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THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



THE MIGHTY AND 
THE LOWLY 



BY 
KATRINA TRASK 

AUTHOR OP "IN THE VANGUARD," ETC. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1915 

All rights reserved 






COPYBIGHT, 1915, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electro typed. Published August, 1915. 



J. 8. Cushing- Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



Uli -5 1915 
3CU401971 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 



THE MIGHTY AND THE 
LOWLY 

ACROSS the chasm of the centuries, 
through the dark mists of history, 
there shines a radiant figure ; He stands 
majestic, beautiful, serene, convincing in 
His fearless truth-telling, resplendent in 
His virile purity. 

Behold Jesus! 
Called by some, the son of Joseph the 

Carpenter, 
Called by some, the son of David the 

King, 
Called by some, the Son of God. 

Over His love-compelling face, the 
dogmatic Church has woven a sacerdotal 
veil, bossed with jewels, overlaid with 

B [1] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

mystic symbols, and broidered with 
many-coloured threads — green for Ad- 
vent, purple for passion, black for Gol- 
gotha, and spotless white for Easter 
day. 

Between the eyes of those who look to 
Him and His all-seeing eyes of Truth, 
men have erected high embattled walls 
of their own building, ornamented and 
elaborately carved with the manifold 
devices and interpretations of men. 

Between His outstretched hands of 
fellowship to all mankind and our seeking 
hands, rolls an unplumbed sea of blood 
— blood that has been shed in His name 
by those who have taken His name in 
vain to prove a point in argument. 

Between His Word and our eager 
listening ear, men have made an age- 
long wrangling buzz, so confusing that 
His simple divine message comes to our 

[2] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

mind interrupted by the noisy jar of 
disputants. 

But all the boundless barriers made by 
men cannot hide Him from those who 
look to Him with seeing eyes. 

He is an unquenched and an unquench- 
able Light. 

In His hand He holds the key to an 
unseen kingdom of the soul. And, 
speaking as one having authority, He 
utters immortal words. 

Even if one does not accept the doc- 
trine of the Incarnation in a strict 
theological sense, at least one must admit 
that the Word of Jesus is the most 
inspired, the most exalted, of all words 
ever spoken by any teacher, any master 
of men or founder of a religion, since the 
world began. Apart from classification 
of it, or exact belief concerning its verbal 
inspiration, the Word of Jesus is the most 

[3] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

convincing of all the inspired Books 
the world has ever known. It bears 
the internal evidence of Truth and divine 
wisdom : of inspiration and revelation. 

Jesus spake as never man spake. His 
philosophy is universal, all-rounded : it 
goes to the very depth of life and human 
experience, it goes to the utmost height of 
aspiration and human possibility. His 
Word bears upon its wide-spread, up- 
ward-soaring wings the hope, the prom- 
ise, the reality of Life. 

But that Word must be taken as a 
whole! Any part of it wrested away 
from its context, given without its just 
balance, and presented as the whole 
truth is a black lie — for "a lie which is 
half a truth is ever the blackest of lies." 

The Word of Jesus is a sublime pro- 
portion : it is a balance of extremes : 

[4] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

in it is even the vital strength of contra- 
diction, the vigorous truth of paradox. 
And in its philosophy lies the summation 
of all conceptions of life. For Jesus 
knew them all — He considered every 
side and comprehended every phase of 
the human heart. 

In His Word are all things for all men ! 

Is one a poet ? — For that soul there 
is wondrous music. Is one a practical 
man of affairs ? — There is common- 
sense handling of the detail of life and 
work — even to the story of the talents. 
Is one a mystic ? — There is the hidden 
covert for the soul. Is one a realist ? — 
There is the tonic from clear, free and 
fearless speech. Is one a man of the 
world ? — There is the thrill of delight in 
penetrating wit — keen, clever, sharp as 
a Damascus blade — the incomparable 
catching and cornering of the wily law- 

[5] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

yers. Is one a logician ? — There is 
the strength and stimulus of matchless 
logic. Is one a philosopher ? — There 
is the inspiration of a new philosophy. 
Is any man athirst ? — He will find 
therein the Water of Life. 

Every true way the heart of man can 
reach, every righteous thing the soul of 
man desires, the Word of Jesus meets 
it and responds. 

And yet — woe, woe, woe to the blind- 
ness and folly of men ! There is no one 
in history who has ever been more cruelly, 
more wantonly misunderstood ! No 
teacher has ever been more falsely inter- 
preted, more falsely quoted ; quoted 
with half quotations which throw the 
truth asserted out of balance, and give 
the meaning a false perspective. 

Fragments of His wondrous Word, 
torn from the context to suit the narrow 

[6] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

minds of narrow men according to the 
narrowness of their man-made dogma, 
have been presented as the warrant of 
one class, one sect after another, as 
widely different each from each as are 
the warring minds of men. 

Each sect has taken some unbalanced 
portion of His Gospel, has translated or 
interpreted it according to its own con- 
cept, and used it as a corner-stone in 
the temple of its own building; each 
sect has also made its concept, its inter- 
pretation of the Master according to 
the pattern of the sect, and has formed 
a different word-picture of Jesus for its 
followers — painting it in different lines 
and colours, and in different lights, 
according to the mind of the individual 
who spoke as the exponent of his sect. 

And all these pictures are so far apart, 
even in barest outline, that no man, 

[7] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

contemplating them, can imagine they 
were intended for the same original. 

The Catholic Church has taken the 
warm tide of humanity from His veins 
and enshrined Him in a sacred, guarded 
tabernacle too high for men to reach ; 
all-powerful, She has kept the multi- 
tude kneeling upon the pavement at 
His feet, whilst the commanding cry of 
sacerdotal priests has echoed through 
the vaulted aisles of beauty-stored 
cathedrals: "Behold Jesus, the very 
God of very God — this, and this alone, is 
He!" 

The protesting sects have pulled Him 
out of the shrine, smashing it in violent 
bitterness of hatred : they have over- 
flushed Him with lusty blood, made 
Him hail-fellow walking amongst men, 
and they have brought Him into in- 
timate hobnobbery with the multitude : 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

their familiar call has rung through the 
colourless, bare Meeting-House : "Be- 
hold Jesus, the Friend of man — this, 
and this alone, is He !" 

In the avowed cause of Jesus, men 
have been led to massacre, to wars, to 
persistent persecution. His name has 
been too often the battle-cry to lead 
men on to cruelty and slaughter. Some 
words of His have been too often wrested 
from their context to serve as warrant 
for crimes, misnamed Christianity, and 
for persecution, misnamed duty. 

His name has been too often used as 
an endorsement by which men have justi- 
fied their passions, their selfishness and 
their cruelty. Men's consciences assert 
that fierce and cruel passions must be 
subdued ; but when they claim a religious 
motive they justify to their conscience 

[9] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

their sin and call it by the name of virtue, 
and, with the warrant of the Church, 
allow their cruelty to take its course. 

In the name of Jesus, men have lighted 
the fires at the stake, turned the thumb- 
screw and applied the rack. 

In the name of Jesus, men have 
sharpened the axe to punish those who 
before had lighted the fires at the stake. 

The Church Catholic, the Church 
Protestant, the Church Reformed, have 
each in turn been responsible for the 
shedding of blood, the doing of deeds 
unspeakable, in His name. 

And now, to-day, in this tense and 
pregnant age, there has arisen a zealous 
band of strenuous workers in a New 
Order, who proclaim Jesus as their Cap- 
tain and use His name as their battle- 
cry, His standard as their guidon in the 
fight. 

[10] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

This New Order, with virile insistence, 
flaunts the blood-red flag to words of 
His, and madly marches forward in the 
name of Jesus, obsessed with the wild 
desire and fierce determination to find 
in Him a warrant for the propaganda 
they proclaim. 

"Out upon all former concepts of 
Jesus," they shout in field and mar- 
ket-place. "Down with the Church! 
Down with the rich! Down with the 
privileged class ! Jesus denounced the 
mighty and the rich, He condemned the 
privileged class, He exalted the poor: He 
was a Carpenter, a Workingman, His 
mission was to be a Leader of the pro- 
letariat : His Gospel was a social gospel." 

All Hail to the New Order! All 
Hail to the earnest workers in the social 
revolution ! 

[ii] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

They have their reason and their 
rights! The world sadly needs a New 
Order, the world demands a social re- 
generation. 

But in so far as they bring Jesus into 
the social warfare of the times, in so 
far as they make Him the Captain of 
their campaign, and in so far as they 
wrest the words of Jesus from their 
context to support that campaign, they 
take His name in vain. 

Disproportionate riches are a barrier 
to the development of the ultimate social 
good : a privileged class manifestly re- 
tards the coming of an ideal state of 
society. But riches exist, they have 
existed since the world began ; and men 
are now born into different spheres to 
meet very different problems ; without 
volition they find themselves the sons 

[12] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

and daughters of the poor, bearing sad 
burdens, or of the privileged class, bearing 
the measureless responsibilities thereby 
entailed. The poor and the rich in 
different ways are both the victims of 
evil conditions, the result of the errors 
of the centuries. These divisions and 
marked differentiations have gone on 
since the dawn of the history of mankind : 
it is a vast, a difficult problem — the 
solution of which must be intellectually, 
conscientiously and carefully worked out. 
Some day all will be changed — there 
will be a more sane and just balance of 
conditions : our utmost practical and 
political energy and influence must be 
put into the work of changing the condi- 
tions: but the longer they have existed, 
the more knotted, snarled, difficult and 
gigantic the problem, the more time and 
brains we must put into its solution. 

[13] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

All honour to the social workers who 
have set themselves to find a solution, 
to work out the hideous, age-long prob- 
lem ; all honour to those who strive to 
bring about improved conditions. 

But they go the wrong way about a 
righteous task when they exploit the name 
of Jesus in their campaign ! When they 
stir up strife with words of His and draw 
false pictures to use as propaganda in 
their zeal. 

No single part of the Word of Jesus 
should be used or urged as propaganda 
or programme for any church, for any 
society, or as a platform for any cam- 
paign — least of all as a programme or 
platform of social change. 

The Gospel of Jesus cannot be separated. 
Therein lies its incomparable beauty, its 
majestic power, its convincing truth. 

[M] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The Word of Jesus is an everlasting 
denial of all exclusive claims : whether 
of church or state, sect or faction, caste 
or class, dogma or denomination, party 
or organisation. 

It is the cosmic universality of the 
Spirit of Jesus that makes Him forever 
the great sympathiser, the great inter- 
preter, of the hearts of all men. 

The entire Gospel of Jesus is for all 
and to all: its message may come to 
all through all: through the Church, 
for those who need the outward symbol — 
through the Meeting-House, for those 
who demand more freedom — and 
through the New Order of a larger 
Brotherhood, for those to whom social 
reforms are the salvation of mankind. 

Let each class, each sect, each faction, 
fulfil its mission : let each church, each 

[15] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

fraternity, each social order, preach the 
message of Jesus in its own way, and the 
heart that responds to that way will be 
helped thereby. 

But woe, woe, unto that class, sect 
or faction which cries — "The truth 
is here — the truth is there!" Woe, 
woe, to everyone who says — "This 
is the only way; the kingdom of God 
cometh by this way, and by this way 
alone ! " 

To say that is a supreme denial of 
the very Word of Jesus. Hearken to 
His Word — 

"The kingdom of God cometh not 
with observation : Neither shall they say, 
Lo here! or, lo there!" 

Jesus urged no doctrine, He taught 
no rigid creeds, He marked no lines, 
He formed no forms, He advocated no 

[16] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

propaganda, He founded no institutions, 
He emphasized no social order. 

He flaunted neither the royal purple 
standard of the king, the tricolour of 
the republic, nor the flaming red flag 
of the proletariat. He wore neither the 
cope nor the chasuble, the mitre nor the 
crown, the white linen lawn nor the plain 
black gown, the monk's hood nor the 
blood-red shirt. 

Creeds, dogmas, institutions, canons, 
constitutions, articles and forms, so- 
cieties, fraternities and social orders — 
as such — were no more to Him than 
the broad phylacteries of the Pharisees, 
nor than the washing of the platters and 
the cups. 

He knew all, understood all, sym- 
pathised with all, accepted the sin- 
cere desire in all — but He commanded 



none 



[17] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Modern agitators proclaim a New 
Order, a new Christianity, a social re- 
ligion. They have tuned their note to 
match this day of discontent : their cry, 
which encircles the world, is an insistent 
protest upon one theme : they, also, 
would make of Jesus — the myriad- 
minded Philosopher, the cosmic, uni- 
versal Teacher — a Specialist, close-lim- 
ited to a narrow groove; a broader 
groove than the old one, possibly, but 
still a groove : and they would make 
of His Gospel a brief for their own Cause. 

With loud assurance do they cry — 
"The Gospel of Jesus is altogether a 
social gospel! Go to, you rich men, 
weep, weep and howl! Your day is 
done — you have kept Jesus enshrined 
in ecclesiastical remoteness, you have 
used His banner to cover discontent. 
In His name you have levied taxes for 

[18] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the church and for the princes of the 
church. You have used His words as a 
salve to keep men quiet in their squalor, 
their poverty and their misery. Out 
upon you! You have no part in Him! 
He belongs to us ! He was against the 
privileged class and against the rich. 
He was born in a lowly stable; He 
was of the poor and He came to the poor. 
No more will we tolerate a remote, ex- 
clusive Jesus." 

What if there is justice in that pro- 
testing cry ? What if it be true that the 
Church has too long kept Jesus remote 
from men, too long forgotten the Brother- 
hood of man? What if the privileged 
class has too often used the name of 
Jesus to hush the cry of the hungry and 
the destitute ? What if it be true that 
the Church has been too often used for 
selfish purposes by the privileged class 

[19] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

— if it has held the banner emblazoned 
with the name of Jesus in the march 
against discontent, and held the Cross — 
the symbol of His sacrifice — as the 
sign in the militant protest to silence the 
eager questions of men ? 

What if all this be true ? 

Shall evil be met with evil? Can 
lies drive out lies? Must the advocates 
of the New Order do the very thing that 
they decry in the Old Order? Shall the 
methods they denounce be used against 
the men whom they denounce? 

Is the new cry of the proletariat — 
the new method of the proletariat, any 
nearer to the truth than the old cry — 
the old method of the privileged class, 
or of the churchly hierarchy ? 

Two classes exist, alas! The rich 
and the poor, the mighty and the lowly, 
the patricians and the plebeians, the pro- 

[20] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

letariat and the aristocracy. There is 
injustice in the very phraseology of class 
distinctions, there is a sense of social 
immorality in the use and acceptance of 
such nomenclature: but since time be- 
gan these two classes — called by dif- 
ferent names in different countries and 
in different ages — have stood marked 
in history, and the differentiation must 
be acknowledged, the fact must be ad- 
mitted. It is an age-long problem — 
tragic, staggering, titanic, repeating itself 
in every century after every apparent 
readjustment. 

This problem will be, it must be, 
worked out to an ultimate adjustment — 
it is the inevitable result of evolution : 
but, pending that adjustment, which 
will, one day, be worked out, let the 
apostles of the New Order beware that 
they do not follow the error they so 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

violently denounce in the Old Order: 
for in so doing they will go from evil 
unto evil, and will retard the coming of 
the better day. 

The apostles of the new social order 
should be as strict to avoid the concept 
of an exclusive Jesus as they are drastic 
in their denunciation of society and 
the church for having held, heretofore, 
a concept of an exclusive Jesus. 

This latter-day Order, excluding all 
who differ from its formula and its con- 
cept — notwithstanding its proclama- 
tion of democracy, brotherhood and social 
Christianity — is no less exclusive really 
than the former concepts which are so 
justly to be denounced. 

If Jesus has, heretofore, been kept 
remote from the proletariat, shall He 
now be kept remote from the aristocracy ? 
Should He be enshrined for the privileged 

[22] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

class of the poor any more than for the 
privileged class of the rich ? 

Let the proletaires beware how they 
flaunt the standards of Jesus in their 
war upon their neighbours, and how they 
use His words to stir up strife. 

With impatient reaction from eccle- 
siasticism, men are now echoing on every 
side the cry, 

"The manhood of Jesus! The Hu- 
manity of Jesus !" 

Welcome cry — too long delayed ! 

Jesus was Man! Whether He were 
incarnate God is a question not for dis- 
cussion in these pages; if He were in- 
carnate God, in His manifestation upon 
earth He was very man : in all ways He 
lived, loved, suffered and was tempted 
like unto all men. The time has come 

[23] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

to think more upon His manhood in 
its relation to mankind. Too long we 
have busied ourselves with hair-splitting 
over the exact quality of His Divinity, 
instead of carefully studying the reality 
of His Humanity : too long we have 
waged war over His immaculate birth, 
and forgotten, in the dispute, to consider 
fully His immaculate life : too long we 
have emphasised the theological dogma 
of His Godhood, ignoring the supreme 
lesson of His Manhood : the lesson which 
shines forth with an effulgent truth 
the more we ponder it — that to every 
man it is given to become a son of God. 

It is well that the reality of His man- 
hood amongst men should be avowed. 

And now as men avow His manhood 
with firm insistence, they avow at the 
same time, with flamboyant eloquence, 
His Democracy. 

[24] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

"Jesus is the great Example of De- 
mocracy!" they cry, and even as they 
utter the cry they contradict the essential 
point of the democracy which they pro- 
claim. 

"He gave no favour to the rich," 
they insist, "no respect to the great, to 
the powerful, nor to the important of 
the world; He honoured the poor; He 
received the outcast." 

Thanks be to God, He did honour the 
poor, He did receive the outcast. Let 
all men remember it, let no man forget 
it! 

That is, however, only half the story. 

Let us remember the mathematical 
truth of the complete circle. 

Consider the Democracy of Jesus. 
In the days in which He was upon 
earth, class distinctions were more em- 

[25] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

phatically marked with more degrading 
lines than at any time in history; the 
patrician class was tyrannical and des- 
potic; the poor were trodden under 
foot ; they had no rights — no power — 
no place ; they were considered as in- 
sects, as despicable vermin. And yet, for 
some wise reason of His own, Jesus took 
the established order as He found it — 
without protest or comment. He met 
the victims of the age-long errors of 
human experiment — both the victims 
of the down-trodden class and the more 
unfortunate, misguided victims of the 
down-treading class — in precisely the 
same way ; He treated them, as far as 
their outward circumstances were con- 
cerned, with absolute equality. 

The Democracy of Jesus was universal, 
all-inclusive, all-embracing : it failed at 
no point. 

[26] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

It included the proletaire as well as 
the aristocrat — else it would not be a 
true democracy. But, it included the 
aristocrat as well as the proletaire — 
else it would not be a true democracy. 

It included the poor as well as the rich 
— else it would not be a true democracy. 
But, it included the rich as well as the 
poor — else it would not be a true 
democracy. 

Any so-called democracy that excludes 
any part of the complete circle is a broken 
arc. 

The Democracy of Jesus was a Perfect 
Round. 

When we read, weigh and carefully 
consider the narrative recorded in the 
New Testament, we find that whilst 
Jesus was as hospitable to the down- 
trodden class as He was to the privileged 

[27] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

class, He was, also, as gracious and 
hospitable to the privileged class as He 
was to the down-trodden class. 

Hypocrisy, pharisaism, pride and lack 
of charity, He ever severely denounced 
— but He denounced them equally in 
the prince and in the pauper, in the 
mighty high priest and in the lowly 
fisherman. Faith, hope, trust and char- 
ity, He approved and received — but 
He approved them equally in the noble- 
man and in the outcast. 

Through the record of the life of Jesus, 
and all of the ministry of Jesus, we find 
therein both sides of life accepted and 
received with equal impartiality, with 
equal simplicity, equal comprehension 
and equal sympathy — the life of the 
aristocrat and the proletaire, of the ruler 
and the servant, of the king and the 
malefactor. 

[28] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The only differentiation He makes 
between men is a differentiation of the 
Spirit. 

The modern agitators, with calm as- 
surance, make statements from the rec- 
ords — which they claim to have dis- 
covered. They claim that the Word 
has been read in the dim and ghostly 
light of churchly candles so long that the 
vital points of the virile Message have 
been overlooked. 

Granted. But have they bettered the 
matter in these latter days ? They have 
merely given us another error in place of 
the old error. The modern Agitators — 
the modern Christian Socialists — are 
now reading that Word in the blaze and 
crackle of red hot bonfires to the blare 
and clash of sounding brass and tinkling 
cymbals, and though they may gain one 

[29] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

advantage they, in their turn, lose other 
advantages, more vital because more 
cosmic and universal. 

We must take that glorious life, that 
divinely proportioned Word in its com- 
pleteness, as a whole, when from it we 
would draw conclusions. 

Here are the facts, as recorded in the 
story, concerning Jesus of Nazareth. 

Whatever is thought of the social 
problem, however true the protest that 
class distinctions are iniquitous, whatever 
the wish to draw sharp lines of exclusion 
against king, patrician and the privileged 
class, this fact remains: Jesus was of 
the poor — and of the rich ; He was of 
the patrician class — and of the plebeian 
class ; He was the son of a lowly prole- 

[30] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

taire — He was the descendant of mighty 
kings. 

And ever, throughout His life, the 
representatives of the two classes — in- 
dividuals of the patrician class and in- 
dividuals of the plebeian class — were 
held by Him in equal consideration; 
with equal honour and with equal respect 
He spoke of His father Joseph the Car- 
penter, and of His father David the King. 

Consider the story. 

On the night in which Jesus was born, 
the mighty empire of Rome held do- 
minion over the earth. The world lay 
at the feet of Csesar and poured its 
tribute before his imperial throne; the 
unconquered standards — on which were 
marked the dauntless letters SPQR — 
were planted North and South, East 
and West: and in that little town of 

[31] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Bethlehem,, in the fair pasture-land of 
Judaea, amongst the rolling, blue hills 
and the fruitful, green vineyards, the 
hour had come which was to bring to the 
world a new transcendent power. 

Augustus Caesar had sent forth a decree 
that all men should be taxed : there were 
taxes, taxes, always taxes, under the 
iron rule of Rome : but this especial 
tax was a census that the inhabitants of 
Judaea might be enrolled upon the Roman 
records : for further taxation, it is true, 
but also for their own protection. 

From Xazareth to Bethlehem came 
Joseph and his wife Mary — the loveliest 
flower in Judaea. 

Joseph was a working man, an honest 
toiler ; his wife, a simple working woman. 
Mary was great with child — the hour 
of her accomplishment was nigh, yet she 
stayed not at home in the Xazarene shop 

[32] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

to await the coming of the censor, nor to 
abide her husband's return : to Bethle- 
hem she went with her lord. 

No simple journey this : the road was 
rough, the way was long — over the hills, 
through the rocky passes. 

Why did a young Mother, with her 
unborn child lying beneath her heart, 
venture upon so perilous a way? It 
w T as that she and her husband might be 
enrolled of the royal line and lineage in 
the City of David, for Joseph and Mary 
were both descendants of the great King ! 

This precious family fact of their royal 
descent was as much a part of the daily, 
honest pride of the worthy Carpenter 
and his lovely wife as were the skill 
and quality of his honest handicraft. 

Thus, at the advent of Jesus, King 
and Carpenter are merged in one! The 
Labourer and the Monarch! 

d [33] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

O mighty lesson in true democracy! 
When the royal blood and the peasant's 
blood unite, when there is no hiding of 
the one, no vaunting of the other, no 
shame of the lowliness of the one, no 
false pride in the distinction of the other. 

King and Carpenter — Carpenter and 
King! And no man marks a difference 
between them. King and Carpenter — 
Carpenter and King ! And each mission 
is looked upon merely as a life-work 
held consecrate, to be honestly performed, 
no more, no less. 

King and Carpenter — Carpenter and 
King ! When men reach the true democ- 
racy, there will be no difference between 
them — as men. Each will be merely 
a working man. Each will know himself 
a working man and respect himself and 
the other man for the quality of his 
work. 

[34] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The King — a builder, a maker, a 
creator. What matter whether it be an 
empire or a mansion which he creates ! 
The Carpenter — a builder, a maker, a 
creator. What matter if it be a mansion 
or an empire which he creates ! 

The real democracy will come when the 
ruler who rules carelessly will be con- 
sidered a poorer creature than the car- 
penter who builds well ; and the carpenter 
who builds a mansion carelessly will be 
considered of a lower order of being 
than the king who builds an empire well. 
Then the king who builds his empire 
honestly and well and the carpenter 
who builds his mansion honestly and well 
will be of the same order and in the same 
class. 

Character and not condition will be 
the test; quality and not circumstance 
will mark the differentiation. This is 

[35] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the only differentiation of class that Jesus 
recognised. 

Back of that Baby, lying beneath the 
heart of Mary, were Joseph and his wife 
with their work-worn hands, and the 
little shop in Nazareth where faithful 
toil lent dignity to life ; — and back of 
that Baby, also, were David and Solomon, 
the mighty Monarchs of Israel, and the 
unrivalled court of royal magnificence 
and splendour. 

And ever as we follow the golden thread 
of the story of Jesus of Nazareth, we 
find always the utmost extremes of ex- 
ternal condition meeting, naturally, with 
sublime simplicity, with perfect harmony. 

The long and toilsome journey from 
Nazareth to Bethlehem had been accom- 
plished, the rough way had been trav- 

[36] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

ersed, under the austere stars by night 
and under the glistening Eastern sun by 
day. Joseph and his wife had arrived 
at last at Bethlehem, and Mary, the 
Mystic Rose of the world, was suddenly 
gripped by the mortal pangs of travail — 
that glorious agony of woman which 
ends at last in the supreme joy and crown 
of Motherhood, God's greatest gift to 
humankind ! 

"And she brought forth her firstborn 
son, and wrapped him in swaddling 
clothes, and laid him in a manger; 
because there was no room for them in 
the inn." 

Here is the vital illustration of a vast 
and mighty truth — the truth of the 
unimportance of all external circum- 
stance and external condition. 

[37] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Verily Jesus was born in a stable and 
laid in a manger; but why was He born 
in a stable and laid in a manger ? 

Who pauses in the insistent argument 
to read the deep heart of the story? 

The advocates of externals, the apostles 
of the non-essential, in their desire to 
stress the point of His poverty, forget 
the supreme lesson of that birth. 

As a matter of fact, Jesus was born in 
a stable and lay amongst the cattle, not 
because He was one of the proletariat, 
not because He was the son of a poor 
man — of the working class : He was 
born in a stable and lay amongst the 
cattle because of an accident, a mere 
chance of circumstance : He was born 
in a stable and laid in a manger simply 
because there was no room in the inn. 

[38] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Mary and Joseph, at the end of their 
journey, went at once to the Inn — 
probably the best Inn in Bethlehem, else 
it would not have been crowded. This 
self-respecting craftsman Joseph and 
Mary his wife, must have had some 
financial resources, for they had sufficient 
money to take journeys to Jerusalem, 
and to start in haste for Egypt when it 
became necessary for them to go. 

They must have had the wherewithal 
to purpose to care comfortably for the 
coming of the Child : they had no thought 
except for shelter in the Inn — for to 
the Inn they went straightway. 

But there was no room in the Inn ! 

The hour of the exalted Mother was 
at hand, and there was not a place to 
lay her down in the over-crowded 
hostelry. Some shelter must be sought, 
and that at once — her travail was upon 

[39] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

her. The very nearest shelter where 
privacy could be obtained was the stable, 
where the cattle of the Inn were sleeping. 

And thus it came about that Jesus was 
born in a stable and laid in a manger 
upon a bed of straw. 

What if there had been room in the 
Inn? What if Mary had found housing 
there ? What if Mary had brought forth 
her Son in the Inn as she and her hus- 
band manifestly purposed ? Would Jesus 
then have been ever ranked — in the 
broad classification — with the privi- 
leged class? Would He have been any 
different? Would the reality of His 
mission have been any less? Surely, 
He would have been as indifferent to 
His advent in comfort as He ever was 
indifferent to His advent in the manger. 

He rose above the lowly circumstance 
of His cradle in the straw amongst the 

[40] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

cattle : He neither stressed it nor men- 
tioned it in His appeal to men : and He 
would have risen as certainly above the 
circumstance of the Inn with its comfort. 
He would have risen above the splendour 
and luxury of a palace. 

Jesus was laid in a manger when He 
was born — because there was no room 
in the Inn. 

Is not the great Truth suggested in 
that simple nativity story, the absolute 
unimportance of all external circum- 
stance ? 

The fact is not that Jesus was born in a 
stable, and that, therefore, He came to 
the poor, was of the poor : the fact is not 
that He was born in comfort and the 
best luxury that the town could afford, 
and that, therefore, He was of finer 
mould than His brothers : — the fact 

[41] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

is that it made not the slightest difference 
where He was born. He transcended the 
stall; He would have transcended the 
palace. 

Neither did it make the slightest 
difference to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, 
where she brought forth her Child. There 
was no room in the Inn : she accepted, 
joyously, the situation and went to the 
desolate stone stable. No sigh of com- 
plaint, no murmur of fret, no word of 
worry escaped her. 

She brought forth her Son and laid 
Him on a bed of straw precisely as natu- 
rally as she would have laid Him in a 
cradle of carved cedar- wood, in a fair 
imperial mansion. With the blood of 
kings coursing in her veins, she made no 
demands : she took the cheerless, com- 
fortless manger and the stony stall 
amidst the cattle with the same regal 

[42] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

poise, the same womanly sweetness with 
which she would have taken the cosey 
Inn with Roman comfort and Roman 
service. 

Externals do not really matter to the 
heart that is filled with the Eternal 
Reality of Life. 

The heart of Mary the Mother of 
Jesus was pondering things wonderful, 
sacred, exalted. What to her was the 
outward measure of her state — the out- 
ward form of her bed ! 

The one dominant thought which 
lingers from the careful consideration 
of that nativity story is the powerlessness 
of any external thing to touch the Soul 
alive in the reality of joy — the reality 
of Life! 

Out of the mouth of that new-born 
Baby, lying upon His Mother's breast, 

[43] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

there is to proceed in years to come this 
immortal Word — "The kingdom of God 
is within you." 

On this holy nativity night, Mary 
His Mother, with divine prescience, 
knows the truth of the Word : and 
all the barren place is radiant with the 
splendour of her soul. 

Many a woman has brought forth 
her first-born in a stately room, lying 
upon a bed of eider-down, hung with 
curtains wrought with needle-work and 
threads of gold — surrounded by liveried 
attendants and lulled by dulcet music, 
and all the while her mind has been 
cumbered with the stupid, stuffy, ma- 
terial details of her luxury, with the 
formula of the world's conventional 
order for the advent of a child, with the 

[44] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

contemplation of the pattern and quality 
of her child's christening robe, and the 
flashing splendour of the jewels presented 
to her at her lying-in. And that woman 
has been poor with a poverty beyond 
all words, for she has lost the unspeakable 
beauty of her high estate, because her 
eyes have been holden — too full of the 
corruptible treasures of her chamber 
and her ante-chamber to see the Vision 
of the incorruptible, that fadeth not 
away. 

Mary the Mother of Jesus lay upon a 
bed of straw in a Syrian stable — a cave 
of stone — upon the open hillside. The 
steadfast stars were her only tapers, 
the murmuring night-winds were her 
only music, around her drowsed the 
sleepy cattle, before the cave stretched 
the desolate wold gloomy and drear 

[45] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

with the deep and heavy shadows of the 
Judaean night. 

But in that stony cave a great and 
wondrous glory shone ! The barren wall 
of stone reflected the transcendent glory 
of Life ; and it was thereby made more 
beautiful than any gold-covered wall, 
dimmed and dulled with the dust of 
mammon. 

The Soul of Mary magnified the Lord, 
and her Spirit rejoiced. The mystery, 
the miracle of miracles was upon her — 
the matchless miracle of Motherhood; 
and she knew her Son for Emmanuel, 
"which being interpreted is, God with 
us." 

Thus every woman who bears a son, 
in the hour that her son is born, may know 
that God is with her : and, knowing this, 
it matters not to her upon what bed 
she may be lying. 

[46] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

To one who does not see the Vision, 
external things become more and more 
tyrannous, until at last they are as 
cerements to bind that person to a dusty 
death-in-life. But to the Soul that sees 
the Vision, externals do not matter in 
the least degree; they cannot make nor 
mar Life. 

O matchless lesson to learn! O 
glorious beholding of the deathless dower ! 
This is the true emancipation of the 
Soul. It will raise life to the N'th power 
on this mortal plane. 

And it is for every man to achieve by 
self -discipline and by cultivation. It is 
only by discipline and cultivation that 
the victory of emancipation can be 
gained. No great achievement is easily 
won; no scientific, no artistic accom- 

[47] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

plishment, even, is obtained without 
laborious days and much self-renuncia- 
tion. 

And if this greatest of all victories is 
to be won — the free emancipation from 
the bondage of life — man must train his 
mind to understand, subdue his body to 
forgo, teach his soul to see, and discipline 
his spirit to realise the Living Truth. 

Then, although he is poor, he may 
inherit the earth; although he is feeble, 
he may find wings — he may 'renew 
his youth like the eagle's,' 'mount up 
and not be weary, walk and not faint.' 

This is the Possible ! — the imperish- 
able crown of humanity ! 

And Mary sang her Magnificat. 

O foolish generation, that reads with- 
out understanding, that hears without 
hearing, that sees without seeing! 

[48] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

There are those amongst the apostles 
of the New Order, demagogues, who 
lead — or mislead — the so-called pro- 
letariat, who have brought in evidence 
that glorious hymn of rejoicing as a 
proof of God's antipathy to riches, 
His hatred of the so-called privileged 
class. 

Who knows the mind of the Al- 
mighty? Who knows whether or not 
God disapproves of riches — whether or 
not He has a hatred of any unfortunate 
class born to a false system, subjected 
to imperfect education as the rich have 
been? If it is anywhere proven that 
God disapproves of riches let men pro- 
duce the proofs; they must, however, 
find more convincing proofs than the 
inspired words of the Virgin's Song. 

Such an interpretation of the Mag- 
nificat is a complete reversal of facts 

b [49] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

which disproves the commonsense of 
these demagogues, and thereby nullifies 
their arguments. 

The Magnificat on the lips of the poor 
Mother proves exactly the reverse of the 
things that are claimed by those who use 
it as an evidence of God's attitude tow- 
ard the privileged class. 

" He hath put down the mighty from 
their seats, and exalted them of low de- 
gree." 

Consider these words! Consider the 
circumstances under which they were 
said. 

When Mary lifted up her voice and 
sang that splendid Song, the mighty 
still sat securely in their seats — and 
they were there to sit securely for many 
years to come. Rome was an estab- 
lished power, and class distinctions were 

[50] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

every day more sharply marked — the 
working classes were despised and ig- 
nominiously regarded even by their 
own countrymen, whose former manners 
of simplicity had been corrupted. Mary 
had in no wise changed her state : she 
had not risen in any worldly way : she 
had gained nothing externally : she was 
the same lowly wife of an humble 
working man, the same simple working 
woman of Nazareth; and yet, she 
suddenly became exalted — exalted 
higher than the mightiest of the world ! 
Her soul and her spirit rejoiced and 
sang : she excelled in strength, in surety, 
in imperishable possessions : her whole 
outlook on Life had changed in the 
twinkling of an eye — former standards 
fell away, and all measurements had 
become new, because to her had come 
the divine Revelation : she knew her- 

[51] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

self to be throned in mighty seats above 
all queens ; far, far above the shameless 
wanton who ruled in Herod's palace, 
decked with priceless jewels, with every 
physical desire gratified. 

What matter to Mary now whether 
she be mighty or lowly — according to 
the standards of men ? She knows her- 
self exalted into a glorious estate. What 
to her is poverty ? What to her is her 
humble home, her daily toil? Without 
a single gain of money, of place, of 
worldly circumstance, she knows herself 
suddenly lifted above the proudest of 
the earth and possessed, henceforth, of 
everlasting riches. 

That heroic Song is a stirring proof 
that it makes not the slightest difference 
what the outward state may be. The 
ultimate measurement of possessions is 
of that which is within. 

[52] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

" He hath filled the hungry with good 
things; and the rich he hath sent empty 
away." 

When Mary uttered these words with 
absolute assurance of their supreme 
truth, they were outwardly sharply con- 
tradicted : the mighty Romans were 
about her everywhere, feasting in their 
banqueting-halls — the prominent Phari- 
sees and Jews were everywhere rolling 
up vast wealth : Herod was in his golden 
palace, with lavish luxury and royal 
trappings; on every side were powerful 
and wealthy men and women flashing 
in the radiance of dazzling jewels and 
gorgeous gems — dressed in shimmering 
stuffs, threaded with gold interwoven 
with pearls : and they were all feasting 
sumptuously on the fine flesh, the costly 
fish, the luscious fruits of the Orient: 

[53] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Mary, the lowly, was standing in her 
peasant dress ; she had eaten but the 
unleavened bread of her class, the figs 
and the olives from the wayside trees, 
with but fresh water from the wayside 
well: nothing had changed in any out- 
ward way; her condition was much 
poorer and much humbler even, than 
that of her girlhood had been : and yet, 
with swift revelation, she knew her own 
soul to be satisfied with good things for 
evermore. And with unerring prescience 
she knew these mighty ones of earth, 
feasting about her on every side, to be 
hungry — hungry of heart and soul; 
she knew them to be aching and trem- 
bling in the bondage of decay and fear, 
she saw for them the finality of the grave 
with its worms, its oblivion of dust and 
ashes. In her soul, quickened by the 
revelation that had come to her, Mary 

[54] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

could divine their emptiness — whose 
strength lay in their riches : she felt, 
intuitively, their poverty, hunger, 
starvation of soul. To her had come 
a new light and in the shining thereof 
all standards of measurement were for- 
ever different : and in the new standards 
of measurement, Mary discerned the 
emptiness of the world's fulness without 
the informing spirit. 

This does not imply that riches are 
evil; this does not mean that poverty 
is well; nor does it imply that poverty 
is evil and wealth is well. 

The story of the great song of Mary 
means simply this : the poorest are rich 
if they have the inner glory of life, 
and the richest are poor indeed, and 
go away empty, if they have not found 
that inner glory which nothing can 
touch. 

[55] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The inspiring message of the Mag- 
nificat is not, as has been stated, a de- 
nunciation of riches : that dignifies 
riches far too much ; the very phrasing 
of it is an undue emphasis upon riches. 
The inspiring message of the Magnificat 
is the relative unimportance of having 
riches or of being without them. 

Exaltation is an inward thing. It 
may come to the lowly — as it did to 
Mary, and give to the world the song — 
"My soul doth magnify the Lord," 
the triumph of which rises high above 
all material limitations ; and it may 
come to the mighty — as it did to King 
David, and give to the world the song — 
"Bless the Lord, O my soul," the 
triumph of which rises high above all 
physical limitations. But the exalta- 
tion has nothing to do with outward 
circumstance. 

[56] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

In King David's song, sickness and 
health are as one to the singer: it car- 
ries the sufferer, in spite of his pain, 
to the secret places of the most high 
where no evil can come nigh his dwell- 
ing place, where no plague can touch 
his soul. 

In the Magnificat, poverty and riches 
are as one to the singer : it makes a 
working woman stand in her working 
dress and magnify the Lord and rejoice 
in her Life, her Love, her Motherhood! 

It is significant that in these two songs 
of rejoicing — one gladly sung by a 
mighty king and the other joyously 
sung by a lowly woman — there is the 
same note of satisfied hunger, doubtless 
meaning, thereby, the age-long hunger 
of the human heart, the barren empti- 
ness of heart which is the tragedy of 
the world. 

[57] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Emptiness is an inward thing: it 
makes possessions, in themselves, the 
merest mockery of the heart, leaving it 
hungry — hungry unto Death. 

" The rich he hath sent empty away." 

Ah, indeed, the rich He hath sent 
empty away ! Not by taking away their 
riches : simply by showing them the 
utter powerlessness of riches to solace, 
to console, to redeem, to exalt. 

The many crying problems, the many 
economic sins that existed on that night 
in Judaea, are another chapter in the 
Book of Life — they are the claim of 
another, an historic consideration : the 
many crying problems, the many eco- 
nomic sins that exist to-day in every 
country and in every land that encircles 
the globe, are another chapter in the 

[58] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Book of Life : they are the claim of an- 
other consideration — a consideration we 
should hasten to give to those problems : 
in all the historic records from those of 
Judaea to those of to-day, from the atti- 
tude of the men and women of the first 
century, to the attitude of the men and 
women of the twentieth century, there 
are found the same false selfishness and 
the same selfish falsity of men, the same 
crying evils to be met and mastered. 

But as to the point of the present- 
day argument, the cry of the modern 
agitators, namely, that riches in them- 
selves are denounced by Jesus, that the 
privileged class is denounced by Jesus — 
that is a false claim! 

However strange and inexplicable it 
may seem; however we may think, in 
our partial view, that it would have 
hastened the development of the world 

[59] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

if it had been otherwise; however we 
may protest that the mind of the Master 
was too compassionate to permit cruel 
social distinctions without protest ; how- 
ever we may wish that Jesus had given 
some solution to the vital problems, 
which are as present and unsolved to-day 
as they were in the first years of the first 
century, this one thing stands forth un- 
mistakably in the records, Jesus accepted 
the social order as He found it, with its 
social sins, its iniquitous patrician privi- 
leges, its class distinctions, its heart- 
breaking inequalities, its despotism and 
its human slavery, its powerful aristo- 
cratic luxury and its cruel bond-ser- 
vice. 

In His mortal life Jesus stands against 
the background of social sin and injustice 
and utter disregard of human rights : and 
the two classes, with all their distinctions, 

[60] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

their wide differentiations, met in the 
Child. 

It opens a wide field of thought and 
conjecture, if one desires to follow it : 
of deep questions, if one cares to ask 
them : but the fact remains that in the 
birth of that Baby in Bethlehem, the 
mighty and the lowly, poverty and 
riches, privileged class and working 
class, were united; the blood of pa- 
trician and plebeian, aristocrat and pro- 
letaire, king and toiler, met in the blood 
that flowed in the mortal body of the 
Child Jesus. 

And in the first homage that was 
brought to the Child, they met objec- 
tively : the united contrast shines forth 
in that primitive and beautiful picture — 
a contrast which makes the true democ- 
racy, the true harmony. 

[61] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Two groups of men came with tribute 
to the Child. They were three shep- 
herds and three kings : three lowly 
shepherds clad in fustian, each bearing 
but a staff in his work-worn hand — 
three mighty kings arrayed in royal 
raiment, each bearing in his hand a 
regal gift. 

O gracious picture that is interwoven 
in our hearts! Our minds unite these 
two groups and mark no difference be- 
tween them. We say "the shepherds 
and the kings" — "the kings and the 
shepherds." It is the reiteration of the 
Christmas story given to us from earliest 
infancy ; but the essential point of that 
story has not been taught nor even con- 
sidered. 

The shepherds and the kings are as 
one: although worldly power, position, 
wealth and caste divide them in out- 

[62] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

ward ways, yet they are regarded as 
of one order. 

Why? Because they were united in 
the great essentials ; they were both 
moved by the same inward Spirit. 

This is the true uniting of class with 
class. 

When the Vision of the divine Reality 
comes to the heart of man, as it did 
to those six men, then the lowly peas- 
ant will be a king, in the reality of 
his personality, and the mighty king 
will be as a peasant in his lowly hu- 
mility. 

To feel this deeply, to believe this 
really, to act upon this always, is to 
show forth the all-rounded Democracy. 

As it was in the beginning, so was it 
at the end. As it was in Bethlehem, 
so was it on Calvary. 

[63] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Jesus died upon the cross, despised 
and rejected of men ; He was crucified 
as a malefactor : He was considered one 
of the lowest of the proletariat. 

But it was Joseph of Arimathaea, a 
man of untold wealth and powerful 
position, who took that precious body 
and gave to it the care and the distinc- 
tion that wealth and wealth alone can 
give — the spotless linen, the costly 
spices, the proper preparation for burial, 
and the hallowed housing in a splendid 
sepulchre, hewn out of the solid rock, 
new and noteworthy. 

As it was in the beginning, and at the 
end, so was it throughout the days of 
the mortal life of Jesus, in all the ex- 
ample of His ministry. 

He showed no favour — He marked no 
differentiation between class and class, 

[64] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

between plebeian and patrician, between 
aristocrat and proletaire. 

This is the note that has ever been 
left unemphasised in the consideration of, 
or contemplation of, His history — left 
unemphasised although it illustrates that 
the democracy of Jesus was a true 
brotherhood, not a brotherhood made 
by a social state. Brotherhood to Jesus 
was all-inclusive, never exclusive. 

Each half of the record has been 
emphasised in turn to the exclusion of 
the other half. 

The proletaires claim that hitherto 
those who have taught the Word of 
Jesus have not considered the pro- 
letaires. This is true. 

But now the proletaires do not con- 
sider the aristocrats : they lay the em- 
phasis on the fact that Jesus was no 

F [65] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

respecter of persons — and mean, there- 
by, that He respected only the poor 
and was no respecter of, no sympathiser 
with, the rich. 

As we dispassionately contemplate 
with consideration His attitude to all 
men, we find it is broken at no point. 

Jesus was no respecter of persons ! 
Neither of the mighty — nor of men of 
low degree ; neither of the rich — nor 
of the poor; neither of the man who 
wore a gold ring and fine apparel — nor 
of the man who was ringless and wore 
rags; neither of the man who held 
powerful place in the state — nor of 
the man whose pride lay in the fact 
that he held no place. Jesus measured 
men by standards before unknown, 
standards that break down the dividing 
line — as no revolution nor outward 
change could do, standards that all 

[66] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

must learn if the world is to evolve to 
permanent betterment. Jesus preached 
a Gospel in the clear light of which all 
outward seemings fall away. 

We cannot consider and contemplate 
the story of His life without a thrilling 
realisation — which gives wings to the 
soul with the expanding thought — that 
life is more than meat : which is to say, 
that the essence of life is more than the 
circumstance of life — the spiritual life 
of the soul is more than any external 
condition of life. 

When to a man this emancipation 
has come, this truth is known, then is 
he set free from all false standards — 
then, and then only, will he know the 
real meaning of democracy. 

Let us consider the Democracy of 
Jesus as illustrated by His life on earth ! 

[67] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

He broke bread with the lowly fisher- 
folk — He supped with the chief Phari- 
sees in splendour. 

He rested in the humble home of 
Peter, served by the mother of Peter's 
wife — He took up His residence in the 
house of the wealthy Zacchseus and 
brought joy to the house by His coming. 

He sat down upon the grass on the 
hillside to eat with the common people 
— He sat down at the lavish tables of 
the publicans and partook of meat with 
the tax-collectors and the money-gath- 
erers. 

He chose, as one of His disciples, a 
lowly fisherman whom He called from his 
fishing-net at the end of a long day's 
toil — and He chose, as another one of 
His disciples, a publican, a tax-gatherer, 
whom He called from the receipt of 
custom. 

[68] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

From the one disciple He graciously 
received the fresh fish which he had 
caught in his well-worn net — it was 
the best which that disciple had to offer : 
from the other disciple He received a 
lavish feast made in His honour where 
the Roman officials and the moneyed 
men were gathered about the luxurious 
board. 

He traversed the dusty highway with 
no water to wash His weary feet — He 
sat in the banqueting-hall, and upon His 
feet He allowed the precious spikenard, 
very costly, to be poured from the 
alabaster box, broken for Him. 

He drank the unspiced water of the 
wayside well from the hands of an out- 
cast woman — He drank the Roman 
wine at Roman feasts, served by the 
hands of bondmen and of slaves. 

He taught in the royal porch of the 

[69] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

majestic Temple: He looked upon the 
stately pillars carved with pomegranate, 
the tessellated marble floors, the richly 
ornamented doorways where costly cur- 
tains, heavy with handiwork, hung on 
rings of gold, the "Gate Beautiful," of 
wrought brass, magnificent; and the 
beauty, the historic significance of it all, 
entered into His sermons and His simili- 
tudes. 

He taught, also, on the free and open 
hillside beneath the arching blue of 
heaven: around Him was the manifold 
loveliness of the oriental country-side 
common to the lowliest — the brilliant 
colours of rocks and hills, the myriad 
wild-flowers everywhere; He looked 
upon the dawn, the sunset, the bird- 
nesting, the fruit-blossoming, the seed- 
sowing, and the harvest ; and the beauty 
and the eternal significance of it all 

[70] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

entered into His sermons and His 
similitudes. 

He held in His hand the coin on which 
was imprinted the superscription and 
image of Caesar, and, smiling subtly at 
those who had thought to trip Him, 
He granted His tribute to the mighty 
monarch of Rome ; He held in His 
hand, also, the wayside lily, considered 
its beauty, and proclaimed its splendour 
surpassing that of the mighty monarch 
of Israel. 

It is manifest that the outward cir- 
cumstance of His own life varied with 
changing conditions; probably it was 
dependent on the money-bag which, it 
is recorded, was held by the disciples 
and which was empty or filled accord- 
ing to the result of the labours of that 
little band. 

[71] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

But this change of condition made not 
the slightest difference to Jesus. 

The calm, serene indifference He main- 
tained to all external things is soul- 
stimulating to consider: He made no 
comment on the chances and changes of 
personal circumstance, no comment on 
what He had of material possessions, no 
comment on what He was denied of 
material possessions. To Him the open 
hillside was as beautiful as the majestic 
mansion, the lily of the field as great a 
possession as the pearl of great price. 
His whole life was a sublime disregard 
of externals. 

Two instances are recorded of men, 
desiring to follow Him, each of whom 
questioned Him as to His habitation : 
His answer was in both cases governed 
by the condition of the moment, both 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

answers were frank in their candour 
and straightforward courtesy, but they 
showed that He well knew both sides of 
practical experience. 

Once, a certain man said unto Him — 
"Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever 
thou goest," and Jesus answered — 
"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air 
have nests; but the Son of man hath 
not where to lay his head." 

Again, two men said unto Him — 
"Rabbi, where dwellest thou?" and that 
time Jesus answered — "Come and see," 
and the record continues, "They came 
and saw where He dwelt, and abode with 
Him that day." 

Two men are marked with special 
distinction in the immortal story. Of 
two men are said the incomparable 
words — "Jesus loved him !" 

[73] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Jesus loved all men : love was His life, 
love was His mission, love was His reve- 
lation. 

But there is a vast difference between 
the divine compassionate love which 
never knows the touch of anger nor of 
reproach — the car it as which never 
fails — and that love which holds a 
personal quality within it, an inesti- 
mable gift of friendship, of choice, of 
intimacy. 

To two men, this personal love of 
Jesus — warmed with the emotion of 
His glorious heart — was given : two 
men were crowned with that supreme 
favour in the history of the world. 
And here, again, the meeting of extremes 
is made manifest. Even in the gift of 
His personal love, Jesus was no respecter 
of persons. Of these two men, the one 
was a fisherman — the son of Zebedee — 

[74] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

whom Jesus had first seen in a fishing- 
boat mending his net at the end of a 
long day's toil; the other was a rich 
young man, the owner of great posses- 
sions. 

"Ah," cries our protesting Brother in 
quick heat of argument, "did not Jesus 
reprove that rich young man and tell 
him to go and sell all he had and give to 
the poor, that he might become perfect ? " 

Yes, verily ! Because for that young 
man there was no other way. His heart 
was set on his possessions, — things, 
things, things, — possessions, possessions, 
possessions ! They were microbes in 
that young man's soul; for him, there 
could be no spiritual health until he had 
gotten rid of them. 

It is an ethical law that it is necessary 
to get rid of everything that hampers 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the growth of the soul if the soul is to 
attain its full stature. All great philoso- 
phers have taught this, and, supremely, 
Jesus, the greatest of all philosophers, 
taught it. 

But the charge of Jesus to the rich 
young man was no argument against 
wealth, as such, because, although He 
charged this rich young man to get rid 
of his possessions, He did not give the 
same charge to the rich Zacchseus, to the 
noble Centurion, to Nicodemus, nor to 
Joseph of Arimathsea ; — thank God, not 
to Joseph of Arimathsea, for had all the 
possessions of Joseph of Arimathsea been 
given away, who would have rendered 
the homage that wealth and wealth 
alone can bring to that blessed body 
broken upon the tree ! 

It is true that Jesus rebuked this rich 
young man who had great possessions: 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

but did He not also rebuke Peter, the 
lowly fisherman who had no possessions, 
who had left all to follow Him? 

Indeed, He rebuked him far more 
sharply than He rebuked the rich young 
man. He turned and said unto Peter — 
"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art 
an offence unto me : for thou savourest 
not the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men." 

He rebuked the rich young man be- 
cause his heart and pride lay in his 
possessions : He rebuked Peter, the poor 
fisherman, because his pride lay in having 
given up his possessions. 

It was not wealth — not the posses- 
sions of the rich young man that brought 
sorrow to Jesus; it was the love of them 
which absorbed him to the exclusion of 
the realities of life : it was the pride in 

[77] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the heart of the young man, which Jesus 
rebuked. 

It was not Peter's poverty that He 
approved — it was not because Peter 
was of the unprivileged class that he 
was welcome to the Master; it was the 
spirit of lowliness and meekness within 
the soul of Peter. When, for an hour, 
that lowliness and meekness gave place 
to pride, it brought sorrow to Jesus, and 
He sternly rebuked Peter. 

As in the daily life of Jesus, so in His 
miracles, He showed no favour when He 
performed them, no partiality, no dis- 
crimination of caste, of class, of place, 
of circumstance in life. 

He raised the son of the poor widow of 
Nain — He raised the son of the rich 
nobleman of Capernaum. 

[78] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

He granted the prayer of the blind 
beggar by the wayside — He granted the 
prayer of the powerful centurion of Rome. 

He healed the daughter of the despised 
Canaanite woman — He raised the daugh- 
ter of the wealthy Jairus. 

He healed the impotent man who lay 
beside the pool, with no man to help 
him, — He healed the favourite of the 
High Priest empanoplied in all the power 
of the Sanhedrim. 

He refreshed the weary multitude of 
common folk in the desert ; He made 
wheaten bread for them to eat — He 
refreshed the thirsty patricians at the 
wedding feast ; He made red and fruity 
wine for them to drink. 

As in His miracles — so in His para- 
bles. 

Throughout the cycle of His ministry, 

[79] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Jesus marked no difference, drew no 
line, made no distinction in the subjects 
of those soul -penetrating stories. 

With equal impartiality, He infused 
His parables with lessons for the poor, 
and He infused His parables with lessons 
for the rich. With equal impartiality 
He drew His illustrations from the de- 
tails of the life of the proletaire — 
showing the closest familiarity with the 
work and habits of the poor; and He 
drew illustrations from the details of the 
life of the patrician — showing the 
closest familiarity with the life and 
habits of the rich : He drew His parables 
from the toil of the day-labourer — 
showing the closest familiarity with the 
work of the toiler; and He drew His 
parables from wealth, luxury and lavish 
living — showing the closest familiarity 
with the life of the aristocrat. 

[80] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The toilers for a penny a day — the 
nobleman's dealing with his vast estate. 

The ploughman with his plough in the 
furrow — the rich man building his 
stately mansion upon the rock. 

The woman putting a little leaven into 
three measures of meal — the steward 
putting the talents out to usury. 

The widow's mite — the ten pieces 
of silver. 

The humble sower sowing his seed into 
the ground — the wealthy householder 
bringing forth treasures new and old. 

The fisherman casting his net into 
the sea — the great treasures which a 
man hid in a field. 

The oil in the lamp — the wedding 
feast of the king's son. 

The poor man who put a new patch 
into an old garment — the rich man who 
built new houses and new barns. 

G [81] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The grain of mustard seed — the pearl 
of great price. 

It is true that He spake one parable of 
a certain rich man, and at the end of that 
parable we find the rich man in Hell. 

But it is also true that He spake 
another parable of another rich man, and 
at the end of that parable we find the 
Good Samaritan — the model set by 
Jesus for all men to follow. 

Thus He shows beyond a peradventure 
that the difference He intended to illus- 
trate was not in the circumstance of the 
one man, nor in the circumstance of the 
other man — not in the having of riches, 
nor in the not having of riches : the 
difference was in the heart of each man. 
The one fared sumptuously every day 
and left a hungry neighbour at his gate, 
with no thought of his need — w^ith no 

[82] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

sympathy for another's suffering : nat- 
urally he was in Hell; Hell is the ul- 
timate effect of a state of selfishness — 
one does not have to die to discover 
Hell. The other stopped in his journey 
to Jericho, descended from his horse, 
lifted his neighbour in his arms, poured 
oil into his wounds, and made his money 
the true means of service : and he was 
in Heaven, or rather, the kingdom of 
Heaven, which is Love, was in him. 

Twice, without parables, without met- 
aphor, Jesus granted a direct answer 
to the questioner : twice, He vouchsafed 
His Word regarding the riddle of the 
universe — the problem of the soul : to 
two individuals He set forth His Gospel 
regarding man's relation to God. 

The two honoured by Him as chosen 
to receive the Truth give, anew, em- 

[83] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

phatic proof that Jesus was no respecter 
of persons. 

The one was a lowly woman of 
Samaria, a toiler, a drawer of water, an 
outcast, a despised sinner; the other 
was a ruler of Israel, a man of distinction 
and of wealth, who sat in the seats of 
the mighty. 

Could any two persons be further apart 
in class, in caste, in position, in outward 
religion — as the world counts such 
things? Yet it was to those two He 
chose to speak the supreme Word. 

The Word to each was, in essence, the 
same. It was the verbal expression of 
the lesson Jesus had ever taught by 
miracle, by parable, and by the conduct 
of His life from the happy stable to the 
bitter cross, the lesson that it is the 
Spirit only which gives life. 

To neither Nicodemus in his power, nor 

[84] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

to the woman of Samaria in her sin, did 
He give any outward formula of life, 
any rigid code of conduct, any rite or 
ritual of worship, any programme of 
social procedure. 

To the rich and powerful Nicodemus 
He did not say, "Privilege is wrong; 
high place is unrighteous; wealth is 
wicked ; — if you would inherit eternal 
life, sell all you have and give to the 
poor." He said only — "Ye must be 
born again." And to the tiresomely 
literal argument of Nicodemus — 

"How can a man be born when he 
is old ? can he enter the second time into 
his mother's womb, and be born ? "j 

He answered : 

"That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh ; and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit." 

[85] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

To the poor outcast woman, aban- 
doned, despised by men, deep-stained 
with sin, He did not say — "You cannot 
approach the altar of the Most High until 
you have obeyed the law, and man is well 
satisfied with your canonical fitness to 
worship God in the appointed place." 

No, He said none of these things. 

Instead, He freely offered her Living 
Water ; and to her surprise at the 
simplicity of the hope held out to her 
sin-laden heart, He answered: 

"Woman, believe me, the hour 
cometh, when ye shall neither in this 
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 
the Father. God is a Spirit: and they 
that worship him must worship him in 
spirit and in truth." 

Jesus sent the sinner neither to the 
great temple dedicated to Jehovah, nor 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

to the great mountain of Samaria — 
neither to the one decreed form nor to 
the other decreed form. He sent her 
to commune with God in her own spirit. 

The echo of the truth falls from the 
lips of the Master and rings clear above 
all waging warfares of church and state, 
of social factions and of social class. 

Hearken to the echo like a reiterated 
strain. It comes from hillside and way- 
side, from the seats of the mighty, from 
the gathering-places of the powerful and 
it comes from the by-paths where the 
lowly walk, from the shadowed places 
where the outcasts and the malefactors 
hide: 

"The Kingdom of God is within 
You." 

When will man cease to cry in the 
streets his foolish proclamation of prom- 

[87] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

ise — "Lo, here — lo, there, is the 
kingdom of God"? 

When will man cease to build up vast 
Kingdoms of Observation, claiming a 
warrant for them in the Word of Jesus ? 

Let us remember that Jesus knew life 
as never man knew it. His philosophic 
all-rounded Vision presented the eternal 
truth when He said — 

"The kingdom of God cometh not 
with observation: neither shall they 
say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, 
the kingdom of God is within you." 

Could a vital word be plainer, more 
direct, more conclusive? 

Jesus recommended no programme, no 
plan of action, no organisation of work. 
His recommendation, His advice, His 
entreaty to man, was to seek a spiritual 
kingdom, unseen, within the soul, of 

[88] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

which the world can take no note, ex- 
cept of its fruits. No parish paper can 
advertise it ; no social society nor federa- 
tion can proclaim it ; no organised social 
plant can accomplish it; no strenuous 
bustling faction can bring it to pass. It 
lies deep in each soul — its High Priest is 
the Everlasting Spirit, its fruit is true 
and lasting Brotherhood. 

This is no plea for the acceptance of 
outward conditions ; it is no suggestion 
that outward conditions should not be 
changed ; God forbid : they cannot be 
changed too soon : every one should be 
willing to lay down his life to change 
them with broad, sweeping, radical 
changes. 

Let every protest be raised against 
inordinate, selfish accumulation, against 
the unjust distribution of wealth, the 

[89] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

unjust control of land, the unjust owner- 
ship of the product of labour, against 
the unequal opportunities granted to 
men. 

The social methods of men are self- 
ish — alas, they are selfish beyond all 
thought! The industrial conditions are 
wrong — alas, they are wrong beyond all 
thought : they are calling, shrieking for 
reform ! 

To consider this reform, to study the 
welfare and improvement of the en- 
vironment of our fellowmen, to work 
with mind and heart and soul to bring 
about a better social system, is the 
obligation and the trust of every human 
being who holds a spark of honour in 
his breast. 

It is to the bitter shame of humanity 
that conditions are as they are, and, 
until we change them, we are responsible 

[90] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

for them. We should work for them as 
we work for political and sanitary re- 
forms, as a part of our national and civic 
duty : it is the obligation of a common 
honesty : it is to be done as we pay our 
taxes or our debts. 

The social disease following the unjust 
distribution of wealth, the unrighteous 
control of land, the iniquitous ownership 
of the product of labour, should be studied 
as the diseases of cancer and tuberculosis 
are studied ; and every man and woman 
who has learned the principles of Jesus 
will so desire to study them, and will 
find a way of betterment. 

But the more sincere is the desire, the 
greater the determination for social re- 
form, for economic and social betterment, 
the more consecrated the resolve to 
bring them to pass, the more necessary 
it is that the accomplishment thereof 

[91] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

should not be imperilled by false 
methods, and that the truth should 
not be perverted to support it. 

The insistence of the modern agitators 
that Jesus' chief mission was solely to 
preach an economic and a social gospel, 
and that the lesson He taught was 
confined to the reconstruction of the 
social system, and the reform of the 
economic plan of life, from the outside, 
is directly contrary to facts. The proc- 
lamation of this error should be avoided, 
even from the motives of wise policy. 
It will foil the desired end of ultimate 
accomplishment . 

The Gospel of Jesus is not a system : 
it is a Revelation. 

The Gospel of Jesus does not teach a 
code : it teaches a new life of the spirit. 

His message is to the individual soul. 
It is true that the vital principle of that 

[92] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

message is the relation of the individual 
soul to the univei sal soul, to the social 
soul and to the social conscience, but 
it must come as the inevitable result of 
spiritual force to be of any value. 

Another vital principle of the phi- 
losophy of Jesus is the obligation of fruit- 
bearing: the regeneration of the soul 
must be known by the fruit it bears and 
by that alone. 

Love, helpful, eager love, lavish in 
service, is the consummate proof, the 
criterion of the reality in the individual 
soul of the principle of Jesus. The 
highest wisdom for the apostles of the 
New Order is to follow the example of 
Jesus and preach and teach the rebirth of 
the soul — the supreme law of the great 
evangel : then the rest will follow : from 
the regeneration of the individual souls 
will come the regeneration of society. 

[93] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

It is foolish for the apostles of the New 
Order to urge that former methods have 
not done this : because there has been 
too much institutionalism and dogma- 
tism and too little brotherhood in the 
past, that does not prove that a new or- 
der of external formation and altruistic 
dogmatism comes any nearer to the 
truth. 

There are codes and systems and 
orders and methods enough, for every- 
thing, everywhere: but the Message of 
Jesus is the one Revelation. 

The world has ever groaned and 
cried out for a revelation of Truth, 
from the time when the children of 
Israel wandered in the wilderness of 
Sinai — even until to-day when the 
children of the present generation are 
wandering in the wilderness of Mammon, 
still worshipping the Golden Calf; since 

[94] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the day when Plato cried out for the 
Logos 'to teach erring man how to 
pray ' — until to-day when men are 
sounding heaven and earth for a sign. 

If we really have this revelation, this 
rebirth, in our hearts, the rest will follow 
as surely as the morning star and the 
light of dawn follow the darkness and 
the night. If we have it not, then 
every accomplishment is but transitory. 

Our little systems of economics, of 
betterment, and of social reform will 
have their little day, but they will be of 
no avail: they will "have their day and 
cease to be." 

Jesus knew, as all philosophers know, 
the danger of riches, the interruption 
of them, the materialising, suffocating, 
corroding effect of them upon char- 
acter, when they obsess the soul. 
Possessions, riches, position, power, are 

[95] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

dangerous and perilous to the great 
development of life. O perilous danger ! 
O dangerous peril ! They asphyxiate the 
man who is absorbed by love of them : 
they block the way of the soul's advance. 
Jesus understood this and He said: 

"It is easier for a camel to go through 
a needle's eye, than for a rich man to 
enter into the kingdom of God." 

These words have been flung of late 
as a dogmatic conclusion to all those 
who have found themselves born into 
a life freighted with the responsibility of 
wealth and position. 

These words were not uttered as a con- 
clusion, but as a metaphor : even as it 
was a metaphor when He said : 

"Ye blind guides, which strain at a 
gnat, and swallow a camel." 

Since the days when the Master, 
heavy and lonely at heart because of 

[96] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the dullness of His hearers, cried out — 
" Having eyes, see ye not ? and hav- 
ing ears, hear ye not ? " men have 
gone on literalising His subtle mean- 
ing-freighted words, without reason, 
logic or common-sense, treating the as- 
tute intellect and the flashing genius of 
Jesus with a stupid disrespect that is as 
futile as it is irreverent; giving to His 
simple direct words less intellectual con- 
sideration and discernment than is given 
to the clever author of the hour. 

Surely, Jesus did not mean to say that 
it was a habit of the Pharisees to swallow 
life-sized camels as they would swallow 
pills. It is clear that the phrase ' swallow- 
ing camels' was merely a striking, at- 
tention-compelling metaphor, a graphic, 
unforgetable illustration. 

And so in the former case Jesus un- 
doubtedly used the camel in the same 

H [97] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

way. Had He meant that it was as 
impossible for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of God as it was for a camel 
to go through a needle's eye, He would 
not have followed His saying with these 
further words (in answer to His disciples ' 
ever-ready question — "Who then can 
be saved?") "The things which are 
impossible with men are possible with 
God." 

It is manifest that Jesus meant merely 
to illustrate a very difficult achieve- 
ment. 

The needle's eye! A metaphor of 
something very small, even as the camel 
was the metaphor of something very 
large — a metaphor for the heart of man 
to ponder. 

Jesus evidently intended to suggest 
to the subtle oriental mind of the man 
who had watched the camel bend its 

[98] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

knee and unload its treasures, the way 
to overcome the difficulty and to ac- 
complish the result. 

But it is as false to say, with the 
modern agitator, that Jesus taught that 
wealth in itself is sin, as it is false to say 
that Jesus taught that poverty in itself 
is virtue: it is as stupid to maintain 
that because Jesus said, "A man's life 
consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth," He de- 
nounced all possessions, as it is stupid 
for the banal literalist to maintain that 
because Jesus made the astute obser- 
vation, "Ye have the poor with you 
always," He thereby proclaimed a com- 
plete acceptance of the unequal social 
conditions and of the continuation of 
the conditions which arise from the crim- 
inal selfishness of man. He proclaimed 

[99] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

no acceptance of them, neither did He 
proclaim any denouncement of them. 

It is true He denounced the unrighteous 
getting of wealth, He sharply condemned 
those who devoured widows' houses and 
those who ground down the faces of the 
poor, just as He denounced all other sins 
— especially and emphatically, hypoc- 
risy, insincerity and pharisaism. But 
it is a striking fact that one finds, as 
one reads the record with care and con- 
sideration, that Jesus, for some wise 
reason of His own, let the complicated 
and the crying problems of economic and 
social conditions entirely alone. He con- 
fined His teaching to the great and vital 
principles for the soul, to the compas- 
sionate yearning over the individual 
child of man to make him an individual 
child of God. 

It is a strange and striking fact, 

[100] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

explain it as we may, that Jesus neither 
stressed, urged nor even advised a read- 
justment of any social or economic laws, 
customs, or even of accepted standards, 
although, in the days of Roman rule, 
the laws, customs and accepted standards 
were against all justice and all righteous- 
ness. 

He denounced no social condition : He 
said no word of condemnation of the 
grave social sins that cried for swift 
redress on every side : nor of the fatal 
despotism of the imperial government 
which treated men and provinces as 
though they were mere grinding-mills 
from which to turn out tribute to Rome ; 
nor of the cruel class distinctions which 
allowed one class of men to tread another 
class under foot as though they were 
the dry and barren dust : He did not 
denounce the publicans and tax-gatherers 

[101] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

who were extorting money from His 
people ; nor the Roman cohorts — not- 
withstanding the fact that the inevi- 
table fruit of His philosophy must be 
peace and goodwill to all mankind : 
He did not even utter a protest 
against the incomparable wrong of human 
slavery which then prevailed : He ad- 
vocated no social reform whatsoever: 
He organised no economic changes what- 
soever. Moreover, He said no word in 
praise of political freedom, of political 
equality nor of social equality. The 
freedom He taught was a freedom that 
out-soared all political limitations — the 
equality He taught was an equality that 
out-soared all social distinctions. 

Does this imply that He was in- 
different to the social and economic sins 
on every side? We have only to read 
His words, His ideal of life, to know 

[102] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

that no one had so clear a concept of 
the possibilities of a perfect state of 
society, so high a realisation of what 
life might be, and so keen an apprehen- 
sion of the folly and blindness of those 
who leave life as it is. 

Ponder His compassion, His divine 
love, poured forth on all who came to 
Him, His yearning over the sin and 
suffering and the sorrow of Jerusalem, 
bearing the pain of all who suffered in 
any way, in His own comprehending 
heart ! He carefully refrained, however, 
from preaching any social propaganda, 
or urging any social change, as such, of 
giving any social formula whatsoever, 
or any political programme whatso- 
ever. 

It is manifest that, for some wise rea- 
son of His own, He thought it best not to 
do so. 

[103] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Perhaps it was that He knew all social 
conditions are but the passing phases of 
a constantly changing, constantly evolv- 
ing world, the temporary and transitory 
ebb and flow of the construction, destruc- 
tion and reconstruction of social orders 
that have repeated themselves over and 
over in every outward experiment since 
history began. 

Monarchy, with its privileged class, 
is defied by Democrats until a Republic 
is established : then, in turn, the Repub- 
lic evolves its privileged class and that 
is defied by Socialists : Socialism, in its 
most promising moment, is confronted 
by the Philosophic Anarchists : in turn, 
the Philosophic Anarchists are threatened 
by the I. W. W's. — and so it goes on 
and on and on, an endless chain. 

Jesus — who saw with keen wisdom 
the end from the beginning — knew that 

[104] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

unless the soul of man is changed, this 
will be forever the result of all external 
systems of betterment. 

Selfishness, arrogance, hatred and dis- 
trust are cankers in the heart — in the 
individual heart and the social heart — 
they are the things that must be radically 
changed, not merely the conditions 
brought about by them; for if the con- 
ditions merely are treated, it is but shifting 
the ground, and the old problem is found 
confronting mankind in a new form. 

The arrogance of the proud privileged 
man, who scorns his brother because he 
is poor, is detestable ! But the arrogance 
of the proud labouring man, who hates 
his brother because he is rich, is funda- 
mentally the same. 

The pride of the powerful man who 
thinks himself superior to his brother 

[105] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

because he sits in the seats of the mighty, 
and the pride of the man of low degree 
who thinks himself superior to his power- 
ful brother because Jesus came only to 
the poor and lowly — are fundamentally 
the same. 

The egoism of the man who thinks 
not of his brother and the egoism of the 
man whose pride lies in the modern 
shibboleth of Brotherhood — are funda- 
mentally the same. 

The pettiness of the man who 
patronises the poor and the pettiness of 
the man who envies the rich — are 
fundamentally the same. 

The self-vaunting of the aristocrat 
who is haughty and rude toward the 
proletaire and the self-vaunting of the 
proletaire who is hateful and rude toward 
the aristocrat — are fundamentally the 
same. 

[106] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The sin of those who shoot the strik- 
ers and the sin of those who dynamite 
the capitalists — are fundamentally the 
same. 

The ungodliness of those who allow 
the pauper to starve to death and the 
ungodliness of those who allow the king 
to be assassinated — are fundamentally 
the same. 

Selfishness, unrighteousness, sin, in all 
its phases, can only be purged away by 
the inward regeneration of the individual 
heart working from within, outward, to 
the social heart : this regeneration must 
be before there can be any lasting better- 
ment. 

The regeneration of the heart and life ! 
That was the message of the Master, 
and that alone can bring the change 
that will avail. 

The regeneration of life is the renewal, 

[107] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the rebirth, into something more living, 
more universal, more vast, more cosmic. 

This word has been so long used in a 
traditional and theological way, with 
dogmatic emphasis on the letter of its 
meaning, that we have forgotten the 
living spirit of it — even though the 
reality of its meaning is spread out for 
us as a living parable in the miracle of 
every blossoming Spring-time. 

The renewal and the rebirth of life 
is to the soul what the Spring-time is 
to the cold and barren earth. 

And it is the change that comes from 
this regeneration that should be taught, 
preached, worked for — and not any 
lesser change. 

Any lesser change is but shifting the 
ground of discontent. Any change on 
an outward basis is but going over the 
old error, which still remains error even 

[108] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

though the purpose and the aim which 
impel it may have in them a higher 
motive. 

Every remedy of circumstance that 
comes from without only opens a new 
avenue for other evils and errors to come 
in. It is the law of life on its material 
side — as history illustrates., 

Jesus knew the heart of man and He 
knew that the change of the individual 
heart was the best means to the righteous 
end of changing the world. 

To build up economic and social 
changes in any other way than by the 
working of the Spirit is a foiling of that 
end. 

Alas! whilst all this modern strenu- 
ous proclamation is going on — as to 
the intent of Jesus in regard to social 
systems, as to the exact social economic 
quality of His Gospel — the essential 

[109] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

message of the great Teacher, for which 
humanity is hungering and thirsting 
without knowing it, is being drowned in 
the din, the strident disputes of the 
hour. 

The great possibility of life is being 
lost in the eagerness to proclaim a newly 
discovered gospel — a gospel that holds 
a programme of procedure. And all the 
while the soul of man groans and travails 
for immortal help on this mortal plane. 

It is an awful but an incontrovertible 
fact, proved by generation after genera- 
tion since the world began, that "Man 
is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly 
upward." This is said as an echo of 
the funeral note, with the solemn funereal 
trappings conventionalising the words : 
but when separated from the traditional 
associations and considered as a fact of 
history, it is found to be invariably 
[no] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

true — it is, and has been, the common 
experience of all mankind. One circum- 
stance is bettered — and straightway a 
new trouble comes : every assuaged con- 
dition brings a new condition from which 
arises a new and unexpected tragedy of 
pain. Thus has it ever been since man 
was born upon the earth. 

O the heart-ache, the sorrow, the 
suffering that is the destined lot of man ! 
O the bitter anguish, the tragedy of pain 
that is the destined lot of woman ! 

There is only one thing that can 
strengthen, can fortify the soul to 
meet and overcome the inevitable trag- 
edy of life — that is the renewal of 
the spirit. No outward change can per- 
manently help. 

The cry is for social betterment — 
and why? That man may be more 
[in] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

happy, more satisfied, more comfortable 
and more content. 

But will social betterment make him 
so ? Not permanently, not surely — no 
matter what the social change may be ! 

Contentment, happiness, satisfaction, 
joy, abiding pleasure, are the portion of 
no class alone; they lie in no external 
condition, in no outward circumstance, 
however financially prosperous that con- 
dition may be. Suffering, sorrow, pain, 
woe, unhappiness, are the portion of no 
class alone; they he in no external con- 
dition, in no outward circumstance, how- 
ever deplorable that condition may be. 

Mortal man cannot escape anguish in 
this mortal world. 

In bettering his outward condition 
man only temporarily suspends his fate. 
Quickly he is assailed by some other kind 
of suffering which is as difficult to bear 

[112] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

as his former state — perhaps more so. 
Outward change is like an endless chain : 
the condition desired, when gained, is 
foiled of its benefit by new conditions 
that have arisen to threaten the enjoy- 
ment of the achieved betterment. 

Poverty is hard, poverty is cruel, 
poverty seems unendurable, but poverty 
is only one of the many grievous burdens 
that are laid upon mankind — and by 
no means the most unendurable burden. 

The same fatality may come from 
causes other than poverty. 

A certain pauper at one time was 
starving ; he rebelled against his fate ; 
he struggled desperately to better his 
condition : he fought day and night with 
fortune : finally he became a millionaire ; 
he lived sumptuously in splendour — 
his table was spread with the finest 

I [113] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

viands, the rarest wines, with all the 
luxury that wealth can procure; for a 
brief time he enjoyed the brilliant fortune 
which he had won in a hard fight. 

Then, like a thief in the night, a direful 
disease fell swiftly upon him; the func- 
tions of his body refused to do their work ; 
the processes of assimilation were choked ; 
and, once again, that man was starving ; 
slowly he starved to death. His financial 
condition had become all that he desired, 
but the very same fate, against which 
he had rebelled, overtook him. 

As he lay upon his bed in mortal weak- 
ness, what mattered it to him whether 
he starved from lack of bread, or from 
lack of assimilation — he starved ! 

Starvation was his lot — ordained by 
destiny — and he had spent all his time, 
energies, intellect and zeal in trying to 
work out the problem of bettering his 

[114] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

financial condition to escape it, and he 
had not escaped it : he had gone directly 
toward it. 

Now, straightway, he must find a new 
courage wherewith to meet the same fate 
in a new guise. His soul must find 
something to lighten the way of shadow 
he is passing — to open the eternal 
Vision to his dimmed and dying eyes, 
something that lies not in any outward 
circumstance: something deep within 
his soul that nothing can touch nor over- 
come. 

If he had concentrated his energies 
and his mind on learning the deeper 
philosophy of Jesus, he would have been 
free of the bondage that fate now lays 
upon him. 

A certain woman once sat in a barren 
room destitute of all beauty; she was 

[115] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

very poor : the blank, bare walls brought 
fierce rebellion to her, a passionate lover 
of beauty. 

She cried out against her fate. She 
worked until she changed her condition; 
she became a citizen of the world of 
wealth ; beauty and works of art sur- 
rounded her, soft colours and lovely 
fabrics; beneath the windows of her 
palace stretched the rolling verdure of 
her flower-bordered lawns. Suddenly, 
without warning, the optic nerves 
snapped in her eyes, and she was blind — 
hopelessly, helplessly, blind. 

The horror of great darkness was upon 
her, she had lost even the glory that had 
shone for her of old, for, in her barren 
room, she had been able to see the love- 
light in the eyes of her friends. 

Of what avail to her was all the beauty 
that surrounded her ? 

[116] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

She cried for new courage to meet her 
dreadful fate — the blackness of the 
night that shut her in. Her soul agonized 
for inward light by which she could see 
the Vision to help her bear the lonely 
isolation of her lot — the Vision within 
her soul that nothing could darken. 

Alas for her ! that she had not con- 
centrated her energies upon gaining the 
philosophy of Jesus ; that would have 
prepared her for the final bondage of her 
fate. 

And ever there is the pain of death. 

There is that cold, dark river in the 
Shadowed Valley which everyone must 
cross, alone; some strengthening power 
must be found to steady the feet as we 
step into its chill waters and some 
strengthening power must be found to 
support us as we tread the lonely way 

[117] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

back from the shore and walk through 
the Shadowed Valley alone — after 
watching the waters close over the be- 
loved one. 

Personal death is the least part of the 
terror which besets us : to the rational 
man his own death is an exciting, de- 
lightful adventure — the going out into 
freedom and emancipation; but the 
measurelessianguish is the death of those 
we love — that is the supreme pain of 
mortal life ! That inscrutable, inevitable 
approach of the grim and awful power 
which silently, relentlessly, tears asunder 
those who are one, to leave the other 
divided half alone, reaching aching arms 
and straining aching eyes into the void. 

Somewhere, somehow, there must be 
found something to help the heart to 
bear the unbearable. There must be 
something triumphant accomplished in 

[118] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

the soul that will enable it to meet all 
circumstance — even the circumstance of 
death, for death is a circumstance that 
neither riches, kings, emperors, poten- 
tates nor any New Order nor any modern 
emancipator can change. 

And there is that climax of bur- 
dens — injustice, betrayal, mis judg- 
ment. What mortal heart can bear 
these cruel burdens without immortal 
help ! How infinitely beyond poverty 
is this pain ! Millions and multi-mil- 
lions of golden coin are as stones and 
pebbles to the heart that is thus wronged, 
to the spirit that is alone and sorrowful 
unto death. 

The bettering of external conditions 
does not, cannot, change the tragedy 
of life — cannot secure freedom, happi- 
ness, ease of heart. The mind should 
be applied to finding the supreme philos- 

[119] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

ophy that can, and does, prepare a man 
to meet every possible phase of human 
suffering, to rise above every kind of 
anguish, whatsoever it may be. 

It is the modern habit to divert the 
mind from the superlative offered to 
man, for the seeking, by constantly din- 
ning into the ears the comparative benefit 
of a practical programme. 

It is as if a man prone to thirst, with 
parched lips cried out for refreshment, 
and when there was at hand a clear and 
hidden spring of crystal water flowing 
free, one stopped him on the way to the 
finding of that spring to swab his mouth 
with moistened sponges. 

Who would concern himself with 
preaching a temporary stop-gap, when, 
by searching and seeking, one may find 
the immortal day-spring? Who would 
spend all one's energies proclaiming a 

[120] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

superficial change when, by proclaiming 
the great lesson of Jesus, there can be 
found a great emancipation, the fruit 
of which will be a change that nothing can 
change. 

Remember! The assertion of these 
pages is that herein is no lack of sym- 
pathy nor of approval for the economic 
revolution that is moving the world. 

The imperative need of the social and 
economic betterment which men are now 
demanding with cries from the house- 
tops is far greater, far more necessary 
even than they know. But the need of 
an inward solvent to meet all things 
that may befall, all conditions that may 
arise, is the greatest need in all the world 
— and this is the great emancipation, 
the glorious Possible, which Jesus taught 
to men. 

[121] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Poverty is not pleasant, poverty is 
not comfortable — but disease, deform- 
ity, cruelty and betrayal are more un- 
pleasant and more uncomfortable. 

Hunger for food is desperately hard to 
bear — but hunger for love is far harder 
to bear. 

An empty stomach is a sharp ache — 
but an empty heart is a sharper ache. 

Uncongenial, grinding work is a trial 
to endure — but blindness is a far worse 
trial to endure. 

Economic injustice is cruel — but it is 
not half so cruel as the injustice which 
misjudges and condemns, unheard, a 
loving heart. 

It is terrible to starve to death or 
to be killed by injustice, but one can 
lie down and die with rapture if one 
has the inward joy : and if one has 
it not, one cannot die with any 

[122] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

pleasure, nor with any delight in the 
adventure. 

Mortal man cannot escape his portion 
of pain in this mortal life. The in- 
estimable gain for the human heart is 
the power to out-soar all condition of 
every suffering, of every sorrow. 

This inward thing, this possession of 
the soul, is no churchly state of mind : 
many philosophers have had it and it 
made them rise above all outward cir- 
cumstance. Socrates had it and he stood 
before his accusers and heard, undaunted, 
their verdict of death and turned and 
spoke those noble words which are alive 
to-day — 

"I am hardly angry with my accusers, 
or with those who have condemned me 
to die. ... I have one request to make 
of them. When my sons grow up, visit 

[123] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

them with punishment, my friends, and 
vex them in the same way that I have 
vexed you, if they seem to you to care for 
riches, or for any other thing, before 
virtue : and if they think that they are 
something, when they are nothing at 
all, reproach them, as I have reproached 
you, for not caring for what they should, 
and for thinking that they are great 
men when in fact they are worthless. 
And if you will do this, I myself and 
my sons will have received our deserts 
at your hands. But now the time 
has come, and we must go hence; I 
to die, and you to live. Whether life 
or death is better is known to God, 
and to God only." 

After he had thus spoken he drank the 
hemlock, and, smiling, passed into the 
Shades. 

[1241 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

What to Socrates was anything that 
might befall when he possessed this 
spirit ? 

There are two philosophers who are 
alike in their philosophy — Marcus Au- 
relius and Epictetus. A sentence on life 
from the one might have been written 
by the other: each rose to that upper 
realm where great souls dwell. 

Yet the one was the mighty emperor 
of the world, with the imperial crown 
upon his head, the inflowing wealth of 
the earth at his feet; the other was the 
lowly slave, chained to a prison stone, 
broken by cruelty and wrong. 

The mighty and the lowly are as one 
in the essential life if they have found 
the inward kingdom. 

Nero is dead, myriad emperors and 
kings uncounted are dust, and queens 
unnumbered are scattered ashes, but 

[125] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus are im- 
mortally alive : although they were in 
the two classes most far apart, according 
to the world's classification, yet they 
rank forever equal. 

This is a striking proof that the true 
equality is an inward thing and the out- 
ward classification of the world into the 
mighty and the lowly is a measurement 
by false and superficial standards. The 
mighty, as Nero, are put down from 
their seats when the consuming hand of 
disease and death touches them with 
fatal finger : the lowly, as Epictetus, are 
exalted and live on forever in the world 
if they have given to the world a living 
word. 

Marcus Aurelius affirms, "Things 
themselves touch not the soul, not in the 
least degree:" and all outward circum- 
stance is but a passing thing. 

[126] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Of the many philosophers who have 
taught this truth, Jesus taught it the 
most convincingly and illustrated it the 
most perfectly in His beautiful life. 

The contemplation of that life is 
arousing to those who consider it his- 
torically. 

Quite apart from the spiritual side, 
when one contemplates the altitude in 
which Jesus moved on earth, one is taken 
psychically to an high mountain-top. 

So long Jesus has been looked upon 
through the eyes of interpreters and com- 
mentators that the world fails to realise 
the thrilling dramatic beauty and dy- 
namic power of His mere personality. 

The record of the life of Jesus read 
simply, as the story of any other man is 
read, without prejudice or preconception, 
without theological bent or bias, shows 
a glorious being of the heroic type. 

[127] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

To many, Jesus is the very God of 
very God, begotten, not made : to many, 
He is the Son of God, only as every re- 
born soul may be the son of God : 
but in either case He is, on the human 
side, an historic Person. 

Even if He be very God of very God, 
He took upon Himself the garment of 
humanity, not to show the God for 
men to worship, — that could have 
been accomplished if He had stayed 
in Heaven : — He desired to be at one 
with all men, in all ways, sharing their 
life, and to be approached as man is 
approached : He, therefore, lived as a 
man on this earth — and as such He 
should be considered. 

Yet there are multitudes of men who, 
not accepting Jesus theologically, will 
not consider His life historically because 
they think of Him only as a being en- 

[128] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

shrined in ecclesiastic seclusion, or obso- 
lete superstition. 

If these unthinking men and women 
would once consider Jesus as a living 
character, would read His life and His 
words as they read the life and words of 
any other character in history, they 
could not fail to give Him their utmost 
enthusiasm. 

If those who have neglected to consider 
Jesus, because they have thought He 
was a churchly possession only, and 
those who have turned away from Him 
in reaction from the traditional picture 
forced upon their youth, will once turn 
and look upon Him as a man walking 
on the earth, they will find captivat- 
ing, compelling qualities that will enthral 
them : they will find a shining personality 
that will fascinate them, that will win 
their worshipful love — and then they 

K [129 1 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

will listen to His words as they listen 
to the words of any philosopher, prophet, 
sage or seer. 

To those who have so considered Him, 
His presence still lingers on the earth, 
His personality is as living, as vivid as 
it was twenty centuries ago. 

Come! Let us for a moment con- 
template Him without the mystic gar- 
ments in which tradition has enwrapped 
Him! 

Let us see Him in His captivating, 
adorable personality as though we had 
met Him this morning walking beside 
the glistening sea or sitting upon the 
flowering hillside. All the heroic figures 
in history that have stirred the hearts 
of young and old for ages pale before 
the ineffable brilliancy of His many- 
sided, all-rounded personality. 

He was, indeed, heroic ! He was heroic 

[130] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

in His utter fearlessness; He feared 
neither man nor the raging elements: 
He trembled not at the tempest upon 
the deep, which swept around Him, 
nor at the mighty men upon the earth 
who sought to entrap Him : He feared 
neither being misunderstood nor mis- 
judged ; He feared neither burdensome 
and difficult life nor cruel and torturing 
death : He walked, unflinching, in the 
way that was ordained. 

He was heroic in the extraordinary 
power He gained over the excitable 
multitude : He could sway them by 
His eloquence and by the power of His 
truth. 

But He was more heroic in the power 
He had over Himself to forgo His ad- 
vantage. He refused to use that power 
with the multitude to secure His own 
ends. With superb self-denial, He put 

[131] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

aside all ambition: He chose the beauty 
of soul-possessions rather than the glories 
and principalities of the earth. The 
people of Jerusalem, if taken at the tide 
of their great ovation, would have made 
Him king : they were tired of Herod — 
of Caesar; they wanted a leader worthy 
to follow; they knew that that leader 
was Jesus ; but He turned from the 
ovation of palms and tributes, of spread 
garments and hosannas, and went with 
His chosen ones to an upper chamber : 
the joys of the spirit were far more to 
Him than the principalities of earth. 
It is recorded that even as a Child, 

"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, 
and in favour with God and man." 

By the time He had reached man's ' 
estate what must He have been? Con- 
sider the picture ! 

[132] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

In the first place He lived in the open 
air, His face surely was exceedingly 
beautiful to look upon, for in the depth 
of His eyes He held the reflection of the 
light of the dawn, the miracle of the 
new day, the serene calm of the twilight, 
the lofty splendour of the stars. 

The atmosphere that emanated from 
Him must have been dynamic, charged 
with all the cosmic forces of life. He 
was one with nature, in harmony with 
her! He knew her hidden treasures, 
the secret places of the mountain-heights, 
where the wonders of the universe are 
whispered, and the deep valleys, where the 
secrets of human life are revealed. The 
marvellous colours of the flowering land, 
the opalescent wonders of the sky, the 
miracle of blossoming and bourgeoning 
were a very part of Him ; the murmuring 
music of the winds, the tinkling rivulets 

[133] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

and the surging sea. made rhythm for 
Him and throbbed in the cadence of 
His voice. 

His life was one of virile purity, of 
self-restraint, of alert concentration — 
therefore no self-indulgence, no slothful 
ease, no lazy relaxation stunted His 
stature, coarsened His flesh, dimmed His 
eyes or took the keen edge from His 
fla shingly brilliant mind : His mind had 
that crystalline quality, that spontaneity 
which is the result only of strict self- 
discipline and constant self-renuncia- 
tion. His mind had all the rapier-like 
keen cleverness of which moderns boast, 
but the casual reader fails to note the 
sharpness of that fine wit because it 
was so delicately veiled by subtlety, and 
tempered by wit to hide the wit. It was 
impossible for the wily Jews to entrap 
Him or to ensnare Him. 

[134] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

There must have been about Him, 
also, an intense magnetism, an arousing 
life-giving quality which brought men 
hope at the mere sight of Him, for we 
hear them cry as He passed — 

"Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make 
me clean.' 9 

There are a few persons in the world 
who have this atmosphere in some degree : 
they are those who have subdued the 
flesh — who have put the Ego and all 
personal desires under foot: those are 
the persons whom we want near us in 
the hours of need. 

Jesus had this quality, this atmosphere, 
in the maximum degree, and the result 
was that He held and compelled every 
one whom He met. There was a reserve 
of measureless power within Him, 
emanating from Him. The multitudes 

[135] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

followed Him and hung upon His words ; 
the sick arose and walked, made strong 
by the psychic strength that came from 
Him; the hardened old money-changers 
fell back before Him and left their tables 
where they sold their goods, trafficking 
on the superstition of the people. The 
self-righteous Pharisees at a glance from 
His penetrating eyes broke down abashed 
at their own self -revelation. 

There was a fearless frankness, a 
straightforward directness, a translucid 
candour about Him that was intellectu- 
ally stimulating. 

And yet with all this fearless frankness 
there was a divine charity that stirs 
the soul : He told men the truth about 
themselves freely, without disguise or 
softening, but He never had personal 
animosity for any personal injury. He 
knew when men were liars and He called 

[136] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

them, without hesitation and without 
reserve, "whited sepulchres," "full of 
dead men's bones," but He had no per- 
sonal resentment, none, even when they 
perverted and distorted His words, turn- 
ing them away from their meaning, and 
tried in every way to trap Him. And 
when, at last, they put Him to death, 
with all the magnitude of His mighty 
heart He asked God to forgive them. 

Although He had the lofty majesty 
that compelled the money-changers and 
the self-satisfied Pharisees, yet there 
was combined with that a bewitching 
tenderness, a fascinating winning smile. 

How do we know? Ask the little 
children of Judsea ! 

After the lapse of the centuries those 
trusting little children, running to His 
outstretched arms, give testimony to 
the fact. 

[137] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

The children insisted upon going to 
Him, and when His disciples tried to 
safeguard Him from what they thought 
an intrusion, He would not have them 
kept away. 

"Suffer the little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not," He said, as 
He gathered them into His arms. 

This is conclusive. Children never 
desire to go to a severe, gloomy, or 
solemn man; they shrink from "a 
man of sorrows;" they do not even 
wish to go to one who is colourless and 
negative. 

Children know ! — and Jesus knew chil- 
dren ! 

The quick kinship that Jesus had for 
children, His comprehension of them, 
of their play — their laughing and their 
piping and their dancing — is a sure 
proof of the child-like quality, the spar- 

[138] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

kling freshness of life that He ever kept 
in His own heart. 

And then there was His incomparable, 
never-failing courtesy, which gives the 
flash of another facet of His many- 
sidedness. He was gracious, considerate, 
chivalrous — to the mighty and to the 
lowly, to the ruler and to the outcast, to 
the nobleman and to the peasant, to 
the churchman and to the malefactor. 

His courtesy was never-failing because 
it was comprehending: that is the es- 
sence of grace. Men are rude and ruth- 
less because they do not understand; 
they will not take the trouble to con- 
sider, to understand. 

Jesus understood; and with complete 
graciousness He put every one at ease, 
even the outcasts. Whatever the sorrow, 
whatever the sin, whatever the difficulty 
— when a sincere person approached 

[139] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Jesus, it was like going home : he met 
an exquisite consideration, a generous 
response, a perfect comprehension of all 
his difficulties. 

Apart from all things churchly or 
theological, Jesus, as He walked the 
earth, shines forth as the most com- 
pelling, satisfying presence in all his- 
tory, in all story, in all the sagas of 
the world. 

And He has said that all men may be 
even as He was and this is the message, 
the evangel, He taught the world. 
Hearken to His words: 

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
Father which is in heaven is perfect." 

It is unthinkable that Jesus, the spirit 
of truth, would have said this unless 
He knew that it were possible. 

[140] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

He knew that every man may be him- 
self plus the Eternal. 

But to attain this power man must of 
necessity learn to see with his eyes and 
hear with his ears : it is a matter of 
cultivation, of training, of study, but 
there must be the training and the study 
to gain the result. In the physical 
realm the senses become atrophied from 
lack of use. A man has to educate 
them to quick perception to be enabled 
to really know the full beauty that lies 
on every side: and, likewise, if he has 
neglected to see with his spiritual vision, 
to hear with his spiritual perception, if 
he has eyes and sees not, ears and hears 
not, it takes training, discipline and 
cultivation to be able to really see, to 
really perceive. 

It is a difficult task to accomplish, but 
it is possible, it is attainable. In the 

[141] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

universe, just behind the veil of the 
material world, there are great and 
potent forces — forces that can work 
miracles : one need only believe in 
them, reach out for them, be in tune 
and harmony with them, to be in 
the centre of a vast dynamic force, a 
great creative power, which will give 
one a new and vibrant life. 

Joy, exaltation, calmness, serenity, 
fearlessness, are the portion of the soul 
that has found this dynamic force, this 
creative power. 

Jesus knew the unseen forces of the 
universe and, being one with God, the 
Infinite Source of them all, He was one 
with the creative Spirit. 

He proclaimed in His Word — "I and 
my Father are one." 

This at-one-ment with the everlasting 
Source of all good, of all life, is the supreme 

[142] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

secret of life and it is to be found by 
every son of the Most High. 

What Jesus said man may say. Man 
may, if he will, be in harmony with the 
eternal ever-living Centre and Source of 
power, force and creative energy and, 
being in harmony with the Source, the 
agencies of that power, the dynamic 
forces in the universe around him are at 
his command. 

There is nothing that may not be 
accomplished if a man work with those 
dynamic forces : his soul will find strength 
to bear whatever comes and his mind 
will find ways to change the world. 

But one must believe in a power to 
utilise it, to possess it : that is the 
simple law of common-sense in the mate- 
rial world. 

There is a similar law of common-sense 
in the spiritual realm. Unseen forces — 

[143] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

cosmic, powerful, spiritual — lie hidden 
everywhere in the universe : if a man 
believes in them, he finds them, and if he 
finds them, he has found the key that can 
unlock the secrets and the strongholds of 
the universe. 

This spiritual possession is the only 
possession that is inviolable, incorrupti- 
ble, imperishable, eternal. 

This power will enable man to ac- 
complish the only betterment that will 
endure. 

And if a man gain this, he is panoplied 
to meet whatever may befall — he is 
forever invincible, he is master and lord 
over himself and over all the circum- 
stances of life. 

No outward thing made the slightest 
difference to Jesus : poverty, suffering, 
pain, ignominy, injustice, cruelty, did 

[144] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

not touch His perfect poise ; He was the 
same under all outward circumstances; 
the same lofty, love-compelling, worship- 
ful, serene spirit moving in the same high 
altitude ; whether it was in the radiant 
sunshine of life or in the dark and 
ghastly shadow of death. 

He rode smiling through the sparkling, 
gay Jerusalem, amidst the waving of 
palms and the acclaim of the multitude; 
He heard the eager shouts of loud 
hosannas, and in His heart He knew 
that they would crown Him king. 

He walked, blood-stained, bearing His 
bitter cross, through the great gate in 
the relentless wall that stood around 
Jerusalem, amidst the loud jeers and 
sneers of the multitude; He heard the 
cruel cry "Crucify Him ! Crucify Him !" 

L [ 145 ] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

and in His heart He knew that He was to 
die as a malefactor. 

And yet, in each event, He was the 
same — unmoved, unchanged, untouched 
by the outward condition : the same 
dignity, the same reality, the same 
majesty enwrapped Him ; the same pur- 
pose and consecration possessed Him; 
the same love emanated from Him. 

The palm-crowned king — the thorn- 
crowned malefactor ! 

And no one marked a difference in the 
bearing of the man. 

When a man has reached this suprem- 
acy over all outward circumstance, then 
has he reached the highest point of attain- 
ment, of culture, of possession — whether 
he be mighty or lowly, rich or poor, prince 
or pauper, ill or well, lonely or happy, de- 
famed or honoured. To have a spirit 

[146] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

which is serene in its altitude, which walks 
unmoved, undisturbed, untouched by 
any suffering, which is at one with God, 
— that is the highest Good. 

If a man gain this his individual life 
will be forever changed, and as a result 
he will change the life about him — its 
evils, its conditions for his fellow-men : 
it is inevitable. 

The Golden Rule will be his rule of 
life, and betterment for the world will 
emanate from him even as flowers and 
fruit open from the sunshine. To give 
one's all, even one's life, as Jesus did for 
the betterment of the world, will be the 
desire of the heart. 

But the true betterment will not come 
by the waving of red flags and the 
blowing of brazen trumpets, not by 
shouting upon the housetops: it will 
not be brought about by advertised 

[147] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

propaganda, with the tinkling cymbals 
and sounding brass of observation. 

True betterment will come as the con- 
summate fruit of the Spirit. 

When it comes, it will be impossible 
for any class to show hatred and malice, 
to feel hatred and malice toward another 
class whilst preaching reformation, how- 
ever wrong that other class may be. 

This key to the unseen kingdom of 
the soul is the thing to be striven for : 
the way to find this key is the supreme 
and glad Evangel of Jesus. And the 
present generation of blind guides are 
turning men's attention away from it 
and are proclaiming aloud the lesser 
kingdoms of Observation by their asser- 
tions — "Lo here, lo there, is the way 
the Master intended men to build up 
His kingdom." 

[148] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

"What shall it profit a man, if he shall 
gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul?" 

And what shall it profit humanity if 
it gain a correct system, a more just 
equilibrium of social order, and if the 
soul of humanity, the inward spiritual 
Vision, are lost meanwhile? 

O that the world might rise above the 
stress and turmoil, above the strain and 
the pain, above all the raging warfare 
of life, and reach the altitude of the soul 
which Jesus knew ! 

O that poverty, injustice and outward 
circumstance of life might matter as 
little to every man as they mattered to 
Jesus ; that the tragedy of his fate — 
whatever it be — might daunt every man as 
little as the tragedy of the Cross daunted 
Jesus. 

[149] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

In all the dramas of the world there is 
no more soul-stirring scene than that 
scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

The sombre shadows of the Judaean 
night enwrap the garden. Jesus is alone. 
He is spent and worn, for He has been 
passing through a conflict of soul — it 
is this passing conflict which proves His 
sensitive spirit and bravely illustrates 
the power of His conquest : had He not 
felt the magnitude of the tragedy, the 
triumph of His poise would not have 
proved what it did prove. 

His disciples lie in the distance asleep 
amidst the sleeping flowers: they are 
unconscious of the quality of that great 
soul beside which they have lived. 

Jesus looks up into the cosmic spaces 
of the starry heavens, drawing, as is His 
wont, the infinite forces of the universe 

[150] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

from the Infinite Power beyond the 

stars. 

Suddenly, upon the silence of the 
night, there is heard the clank and clang 
of armed feet, the clashing of swords 
and staves, and there flashes in the dark- 
ness the swift moving of lurid lights — 
Roman lanterns and flaming torches. 

Jesus looks upon the approaching 
throng and knows that His hour has 
come! 

The measure of His sensitive nature, 
finely attuned to harmony, jarred by all 
discord, is the measure of His pain : the 
measure of His titanic soul is the measure 
of the on-rush of prophetic agony. 

He foresees it all — the betrayal by 
one He loves, the cruel capture, the 
ruthless binding of His proud person, 
the bitter injustice which will give Him 

[151] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

no hearing, the mock trial which will 
grant Him no defence, the ignominy, 
the persecution, the malefactor's death. 

But He does not shrink nor falter. 

Out from the shadow of the olive trees 
He steps into the baneful glare of the 
relentless torches : 

"Whom seek ye?" He asks. 

For a space the mass of merciless 
murderers are confounded before the 
majestic presence of the man, the music 
of His voice, the lofty dignity of His 
bearing : He seems to wear an invisible 
crown beside which the imperial diadem 
of Csesar is as a worthless bauble. 

Surely, this is some stranger who will 
help them to find the one they seek — 
the one who hides in terror from their 
implacable hate, the relentless purpose 
of their vengence. 

"Jesus of Nazareth," they answer. 

[152] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

History shows no more sublime pic- 
ture than that valiant figure, serene, 
dauntless, undismayed, without one 
stain of fear, standing before that 
seething throng of murderers with con- 
suming hatred in their eyes — the im- 
placable hatred which possesses men 
who have been told the truth about 
themselves : Jesus sees the hatred in 
their eyes, He sees their swords and 
staves; beyond — He sees the pitiless 
path to Golgotha, the bitter cross, and 
He answers: 

"I am He." 

Then He goes forth to die. 

The way He walks is stained with the 
blood that flows from the stripes which 
wanton men have laid upon His precious 
body. Upon His head there is the cruel 
crown of thorns — the mockery of its 

[153] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

taunt sharper than the long points of 
the savage thorns; upon His shoulders 
He bears the burden of His heavy cross : 
but on His lips there is a compassionate 
prayer for those who lead Him on to 
death. 

Across the chasm of the centuries, 
through the dark mists of history, we 
see Him hanging on the cross upon 
the hill of Golgotha. 

The anguish of pierced flesh wracks 
His quivering nerves, the hot flush of 
fever consumes His burning frame, the 
sneers and jeers of the brutal rabble 
cut deep into His heart. 

And yet, above it all, behold! He 
shines serene, calm, triumphant, beauti- 
ful. 

No outward crucifixion can touch His 
soul. 

[154] 



THE MIGHTY AND THE LOWLY 

Through the deafening din of the 
centuries, through the rolling echoes of 
history, we hear His final words which 
teach us how to die — and how to live : 

"Father, into Thy hands I commend 
my spirit." 



Printed in the United States of America. 
[155] 



' I ^HE following pages contain advertisements of 
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